


a dream filled mind

by xxprincessxx



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23602807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxprincessxx/pseuds/xxprincessxx
Summary: “Hey Princess, ready for the test today?” Ricky asks passing Nini taking his usual seat behind her.She couldn’t help but scoff and roll her eyes at the boy, “Ready to do better than you? Always Bowen.” She smirks.“Do you guys ever get tired competing?” Big Red asks from his spot next to Ricky who was watching the back and forth between the pair.“Yeah, we’re graduating in like three months, can’t you guys just let it go?” Ashlyn chimes in.Ricky and Nini couldn’t help but burst out laughing as if Ashlyn had made the joke of the century, “Let it go?” Nini asks, amidst her laughter, “You’re kidding, right? In three months, when I’m valedictorian, I get to rub it in his face from whatever school I end up choosing." She hears Ricky scoff from behind her, causing her to turn around, sending him a challenging look.ORRicky Bowen and Nini Salazar-Roberts both betting on being valedictorian, which of them will come out on top?
Relationships: Big Red/Ashlyn Caswell, E.J. Caswell/Gina Porter, Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts, Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Comments: 42
Kudos: 151





	a dream filled mind

**Author's Note:**

> hi! i'm back hahhah! i hope you guys like this one, i've worked really hard on it :)
> 
> i tried my best to embody the whole american school system thing, but being canadian there's probably going to be some inconsistencies and unrealistic aspects to it.
> 
> it's officially my longest work to date, so i hope you read it all through. trust me it'll be worth it xx

Senior year was coming to a close in a few short months, and everyone knew Nini Salazar-Roberts was the front runner for valedictorian. She was the smartest girl in school, she had a 4.6 GPA, accepted into 3 Ivy’s still waiting on 2 more schools before making her final decision. She was also the head of the musical theatre department and worked at the local bookstore on the weekends.

Everyone also knew Ricky Bowen would be the one person that could knock Nini out for valedictorian. His GPA just falling shorter than hers, sitting at a 4.57, but he had three more months to beat her out. He would definitely be salutatorian, but was desperate to beat the brunette out of the top rank.

The pair have been at each other’s throats since the beginning of junior year, rubbing a test or a paper in the other’s face when they do better, constantly competing against one another. Of course, it hasn’t always been this way. They were friends during their freshman year when they had first met, the best of friends at that. But once they returned after the summer of their sophomore year, things had taken a complete 180. Spouting rude and snide remarks at one another, can’t helping the words flying from their mouth. It had thrown everyone, confused as to what had happened between the pair that was once attached at the hip.

The small brunette knew how pissed he was, knowing that she was currently holding the top ranking. She knew his GPA was lower than hers because of a group project that wasn’t weighted properly, she couldn’t help but smirk at this. It was an unfair advantage for her, she knew that, but she simply told him, ‘better luck next time.’ Which he just frowned at, flipping her off.

No one knew what had happened over the summer going into junior year, and no one dared to ask the pair, not unless they wanted to lose their heads. Their friends had remained clueless on the events that had brought them to push each other away, confused as to why they were suddenly acting in such an ill-manner. All they could do was simply watch as the once close pair, that were basically best friends, began to drift apart and become sworn enemies.

“Hey Princess, ready for the test today?” Ricky asks passing Nini taking his usual seat behind her.

She couldn’t help but scoff and roll her eyes at the curly-haired boy, “Ready to do better than you? Always Bowen.” She smirks.

AP Chemistry was always one of Ricky’s better subjects, he and Nini both knew this. He would constantly joke that he could always tutor her in chemistry with a suggestive wink. She responded the same each time, with an eye roll and a flick to his forehead telling him to fuck off, getting him out of her face.

“Do you guys ever get tired competing?” Big Red asks from his spot next to Ricky who was watching the back and forth between them like he has the past two years.

The pair look over to the red head like he has lost his mind. They shake their heads in unison, “Red, there’s a lot riding on the next three months,” Ricky tells him, in which Nini nods in agreement. The only time she ever agrees with anything he says is when it’s about their little competition, because they both were so desperate to come out on top.

“We’re graduating in like three months, can’t you guys just let it go?” Ashlyn says.

Ricky and Nini couldn’t help but burst out laughing as if Ashlyn had made the joke of the century, “Let it go?” Nini asks amidst her laughter, “You’re kidding, right? In three months, when I’m valedictorian, I get to rub it in his face, as I ship myself off to whichever Ivy that I end up choosing.” She hears Ricky scoff from behind her, causing her to turn around, giving him a challenging look.

“Oh, didn’t you hear? My third Ivy acceptance came in the mail yesterday. And, how many have come in for you?” She asks sarcastically, rubbing it in his face.

“None of your business.” Ricky mumbles, crossing his arms over his chest as he slouches back in his seat. In all honesty he’s received four acceptances, waiting on one school, but he hasn’t told anyone. Despite the front he puts up in front of Nini; the cocky, self-centered dick, he felt bad bragging about his acceptances. He knew some of his friends haven’t gotten theirs yet, and most of them hadn’t applied to any of the Ivy’s. He didn’t want to push it in everyone’s face that he’s going to this great school come the fall, he was more than happy to wait until they’ve all gotten their letters. So, he simply chose to keep it to himself until he decides which one he’s going to accept.

Nini smirks turning her nose up at the boy, “That’s what I thought.” She says when he falls silent, turning back around facing the front.

“Nina!” Ashlyn reprimands causing the brunette to turn to her friend, “You guys may not like each other, but don’t be rude. That’s his future.” She smacks her friend at the back of her head. “Apologize.”

Ricky grins leaning forward, head resting in his hand that was propped up on the desk, “Yeah, you really hurt my feelings Princess.” He pouts, causing the girl to roll her eyes.

“Ricky.” Big Red says sternly.

He huffs, “Don’t worry about it gorgeous. It takes a lot more to hurt my feelings, try harder next time.”

Nini was about to respond when the shrill of the bell rang throughout the classroom, signaling the beginning of class. She glances over her shoulder once more, her face softening for a moment. She knew what she said was conceited and uncalled for, she didn’t mean for it to be, he just frustrated her to no end sometimes. She could easily see behind the façade he was putting up, she knows he’s gotten his letters, whether they be acceptances or rejections. She was friends with him long enough to know that he puts his friends before himself, he was kind-hearted to everyone but her. The memory of the last night they had ever called themselves friends flashes through her mind again, reminding herself that she shouldn’t feel bad about what she said because what he did was much worse.

Her attention immediately going back to the front of the class as their teacher begins to hand out sheets of paper, shaking herself from her thoughts. Just three more months she reminds herself, three more months and she’ll be valedictorian, and she can finally rub it in his smug face.

* * *

“Ricky,” his mom repeats his name again bringing his attention back to the woman sitting across from him at the kitchen table. His eyes divert to his dad who was sitting quietly next to him, using his fork to move around the food on his plate. “You need to choose a school.”

All Ricky could do was nod, wanting so badly to roll his eyes at her. His last acceptance letter had arrived earlier that week, and it just so happened to be the same time his mom was flying down for a quick visit. Don’t get him wrong, he was incredibly grateful that he got into all the schools he applied for. But with his mom breathing down his neck the minute she landed back in Salt Lake the other night, he couldn’t find it in himself to care about any of it.

The Ivy League was always his mom’s dream for him. Growing up, she pushed him to do better, be better, work harder, be ambitious. No distractions. Nothing that’ll get in the way of attaining their end goal. Ricky scoffs internally at the thought, _their_ end goal. It’s never been just his.

Ricky thought getting accepted into one school would be enough for his mom to relax and be happy. But she wasn’t. Every time she came to visit in the past year as letters came in the mail, she was never happy, she always expected more.

When his first acceptance came in back in December she was the first person he called. He was so excited to tell her the news, he finally achieved what he’s been working towards since he could remember. And all she could manage was, “That’s one school, now we wait for the other four.” And it kept going like that, letter after letter, she was never happy. Now that he got accepted into all of them all she could talk about was what offer he was going to take.

He excuses himself from the table ignoring his mother’s calls for him to sit back down, “I just need some air,” he mumbles as he makes his way to the front door, grabbing his skateboard slamming the door shut behind him.

Why wasn’t what he did ever enough for her?

* * *

Nini huffs collapsing on her bed, her first Ivy rejection. She wasn’t entirely mad about it, Columbia wasn’t even her first choice anyways. Just because it wasn’t her first choice, doesn’t make it didn’t hurt any less. That leaves one more school to send out a letter, the one that she’s been waiting for – Harvard. The letter was set to come in any day now, and she beginning to get more anxious, doubting herself. Columbia’s rejection letter just gave Nini the reminder that Harvard can just as easily say no, and what then? It’s not like she didn’t have 3 other great schools that she could easily go to, but Harvard was the dream it always has been.

Sitting up from her bed, she moves over to her window, prying it open as she crawled out to sit on the roof. She’s always loved sitting out there, especially on the tougher nights. She loves the way the night sky wraps around the city, looking up at whatever stars were visible and tracing the phases of the moon with her little finger. She lived in a peaceful part of the neighbourhood, not much hustle and bustle compared to other parts of the city.

She opens the vanilla folder that she was holding in her hands. All of her acceptance and rejection letters. Nini wasn’t dumb, she knew the Ivy League was incredibly difficult to get into with the acceptance rate being incredibly low she made sure she had back-ups and safety schools. She worked her ass off, juggling so many activities, along with her school work and a part-time job. She’s surprised she has time for anything these days. She had applied to a few other schools, some more local, or a state or two over, she needed to be safe. She rifles through the pages, pulling the four Ivy letters out. Three acceptances, one rejection. That’s incredible. But, why wasn’t she happy?

Looking out into the street hearing a noise coming from down below, disrupting her thoughts. She saw the familiar curly-haired boy on his skateboard. He never skated at night, she knew that. He only did it when he was upset or something was bothering him. It was as if Ricky felt someone’s eyes on him, he looks up locking eyes with the brunette. He slowed his pace, but not stopping entirely. He smiles tightly at the brunette acknowledging her, she knows that he can tell something is bothering her, just as she could tell the same with him. But that doesn’t make him stop to talk to her, they haven’t done that in nearly two years. With one final push, he skates down the street.

Nini sighs watching as he skated into the night. She knew why the one rejection made it harder. The night that she lets play on repeat in her memory filling her vision once more.

Ricky and Nini were sitting on her roof just like they did most nights, their minds wandering, chatting about what the coming school year was about to bring. When Nini had brought up the idea of colleges, how her dream was to get accepted into Harvard or any Ivy for the matter. But when she questioned where he wanted to go to, he froze. Nini confused, placing a hand on his, he immediately pulled back heading back into her room without a word. She quickly follows him in confused about his behaviour asking if he’s okay. What came out of his mouth next wasn’t what she was expecting at all.

“You really think you can get in?” The question completely through Nini off for a loop, the way he had posed the question sounded so condescending and outright malicious. She glared at her best friend, completely taken aback and offended that he would ask her such a question. He didn’t let her answer as he continued, “People start working on getting into the Ivy’s since they are kids, it’s not something you just _choose_ to do so soon before applications. I’ve worked my ass off in school to even just think about the Ivy’s. We all know I’m a shoo-in for valedictorian, no one’s grades can simply be compared to mine.”

The brunette was so angry her blood beginning to boil, crossing her arms in disbelief by the words falling from his mouth. She couldn’t believe her best friend didn’t think she was smart enough to get into a school like that.

“Fuck you,” she snaps at him stopping his rant. Deciding to stand her ground she squares her shoulders straightening her posture, daring him to fight back, “I will get into one of those little preppy schools, just you watch. And you know what? Come graduation you’ll be watching me standing at that god damn podium giving out my fantastic valedictorian speech, and you’ll be sitting there with your little salutatorian medal. You’re going to wish you never said that to me.”

Ricky wipes a hand across his mouth smirking at the brunette in front of him, “Valedictorian, huh? You’re on Princess.” He responds smugly. Those were the last words he said to her before leaving her house that night. She waited until she saw him skating down the street to let her first tear fall.

The memory bringing tears to prick in Nini’s eyes. She wasn’t sure why he had said it, she knew that Ricky was smarter, it just came more easily to him. Nini had to push herself to get above him, she kept on pushing and she never stopped. She wanted to prove to him that she was smart enough, she was going to get into a prestigious school, just like he could. She wanted to prove that she was good enough. So, yeah, one rejection letter vs. three acceptances may not mean anything to her friends or to her moms, but it meant everything to her. Nini knows he’s a big part of the reason she’s accomplished her dream of the Ivy League, it may have been out of spite, but he was the one that had pushed her to her full potential.

That night, Nini stayed out on her roof until 3AM. Thinking about all the what if’s and where her life would be if her and Ricky had never gotten into such a big fight that drew them apart. She wonders if she would’ve even thought of applying to an Ivy, let alone five. Maybe if things didn’t turn out the way they did, her and Ricky would’ve had a shot. As she pulls the blankets over her body that night, settling into her bed letting out a frustrated sigh. After all these years, she just wants to be done with Ricky and his bullshit, but she knew why it had hurt her much more than it should’ve. Before their fallout, she was talking herself up into telling him how she had felt about him. She loves him. But he’ll never love her. That’s why Nini keeps up with this fight, a poor attempt to keep him in her life.

* * *

“For your final project, I’m going to be pairing you guys up.” Ms. Anderson announces to her AP English class holding a stack of papers, beginning to hand out the assignments to her students. “You’re all graduating in a short three months. For most of you that means going off to college, whether it be right here in Utah, or on the other side of the world. So, for your paper I want you to learn about your partner.” She says, taking a seat on her desk after handing out the last sheet.

Looking around the room, there was a few students paying close attention, others doodling in their books or fighting the urge to fall asleep in their seats. She continues, “It could be about their proudest moments, maybe their life’s biggest regrets, what really pushes them to be the person that stands before you today. I want your take on what you’ve learned, and apply it back to yourself. Have you been doing things to satisfy others? Or yourself?”

Nini couldn’t herself but think about the last question. Sure, she tells herself all the time that she does what does for herself, being the independent young woman that she is. She wanted to make it far in life, wanted to be successful and make an impact on others, on the world. But she couldn’t help but think, did she want to do those things because she wanted to prove to everyone she can do it? Her valedictorian goal simply started because of Ricky, desperately wanting to prove him wrong. She wanted to be successful and independent to make her moms proud. Was there anything that wanted to do, just for herself?

Ricky’s brain had been going through the same motions as Nini’s. Wondering if he did everything because his mom didn’t give him an option, because it was merely in her plan. It was Ivy League or nothing. It was his mom’s dream, not his. He wasn’t mad at her, no not at all. Sometimes he just wished she would talk about anything besides his future. He knew the answer to the question Ms. Anderson posed. But, his life’s biggest regret? His eyes couldn’t help but travel to the small brunette sitting on the other of the class. A memory flashes before him, the same one that haunts him every day. Yeah, he thought, his life’s biggest regret.

The pairs attention is brought back to reality when Ms. Anderson calls Nini’s name out, “Your partner is going to be Ricky,” Ms. Anderson points to the curly-haired boy who looked just as shocked as she did. Nini wanted to scream. Of all projects, she had to be partnered with was the one boy who she had intentionally pushed out of her life. When Nini looks over to the boy sitting across the class, his eyes were already trained on her.

 _Fuck_.

* * *

Nini sat down, throwing her bag down angrily on the lunch table. Her actions reflecting her mood, as she furiously searched through her bag taking her anger out on the things she was pushing around, finding the sandwich she had stuffed in there this morning. Angrily she takes a bite, eyes trained on the lunch table where he was sitting, laughing along to something Big Red had said. She huffs irritated that it didn’t even look like what had happened in class was affecting him one bit.

As Nini takes another harsh bite, she’s brought back to the group when Seb puts a gentle, timid hand on her shoulder, “Nini, slow down. You might choke.”

“Or bite your finger off.” Gina adds.

She rolls her eyes at her friends. Swallowing the last of the sandwich that she was munching on, finally ready to start updating them on the horrible project that Anderson had just assigned her class. Looking to her friends as she complains, starting from what the project was about, Ashlyn interjecting, letting her know that it didn’t seem all that bad, a lot more interesting than projects that they’ve been assigned in the past.

The brunette scoffs, “Not unless your partner is Ricky fucking Bowen.”

The group eye one another with some knowing looks. Sure, they don’t have the slightest clue about what happened between the pair. But they know that before it all went down, they were certain Ricky and Nini were on the path to dating. They were thinking that when they returned to school in their junior year, they’d show up holding hands, not yelling down each other’s throats. Ricky and Nini never shared what happened on the dreadful night. It was too horrible for both of them to talk them to even want to talk about, preferring to just let it eat up at them.

Ashlyn instantly shakes her head at Kourtney, knowing what she was about to ask. Ignoring her friends hesitant looks she questions, “What happened?”

Nini looks at her best friend confused, “Were you not listening to my whole story?” Wondering how she could’ve missed her entire spiel on the project that she had to do. Kourtney shakes her head at the brunette, “No, Nini, I mean what happened with Ricky?” The question causing Nini to stop mid-bite.

Her eyes diverting from her friends, looking back to the boy in question. She still couldn’t manage to tell her friends what had happened between them, even after two years. It was still painful, Ricky had cut her deep that night. After he left she was left with angry sobs wracking her body, wanting to just scream. Instead of answering her friend’s question, she gets up without another word walking over to the curly-haired boy.

He hadn’t seen her approach him, she pulls at his hair on the back of his neck quickly causing him to turn around glaring angrily at her. He opens his mouth probably to spout some snide remark, but before he could say anything she fixes him with a serious look that she knew he’d understand, “We need to talk.” He huffs, nodding grabbing his bag as he follows her out of the cafeteria to the front of the school.

He watches her sit on the bench putting her head in between her legs, he remembers it as her way to calm herself down, he wanted to run a hand down her back to help her relax, but he no longer had the right to do so. With a final breath, she sits back up to her full height, “This project is going to suck. We both know it. I don’t want to get to know you or about your life.”

He rolls his eyes, taking a seat next to her setting his bag down on the ground, “Nini, our grade rides on this. I don’t want my final project in this class to suck. I think it’s kind of interesting, a little opinion-based. I know it’s going to be hard, like getting to know each other again.” He tried to reason with her, being more civil than he has on other days.

“No, Ricky. You want to know what’s going to be hard? Being around you. You’ve been such a fucking dick, but only to me Ricky. Want to have a sneak peek of my paper?” she asks sarcastically crossing her arms over her chest, “Ricky Bowen. Grade A dick. My number one enemy, the boy that will forever hate me because I got valedictorian and he didn’t. His biggest regret? Not trying harder. His proudest moment? Thinking he had a chance at an Ivy L-”

“Fuck you.” Ricky interrupts her loudly, standing up staring down at the small girl, “Since the all high and mighty princess wants to know so bad, I got in. To every single school. Sure, I’m a dick to you, but not to my friends. You want to know why no one knows? Because I don’t want to rub it in my friends faces. Some of them haven’t even got into their schools yet and I’m not going to parade around my 5 acceptance letters from these big ass name schools. But for you Nina? I’ll gladly do it, because guess what? You’re not the only one in this fucking world and definitely not the only one that got into the Ivy’s. Get a fucking reality check.” He sneers.

She scoffs, she stands up not letting it get to her that he did in fact get his acceptance letters, contrary to what she had presumed, “Congrats Ricky. Really. Looks like you can actually apply yourself.” She smiles maliciously, “But you don’t know me, you don’t get to fucking say that I’m some self-centered bitch!” she yells.

“That’s the whole fucking point Nini! I don’t know you! At least not this new Nini,” he eyes her up and down, “You want to win valedictorian? We get to know each other, because it’s for our fucking paper, you may not like it but I’m not about to risk my grade because you don’t want to know me.”

She knew he was right. No matter how badly she wanted to forget about him or avoid him, she couldn’t. “Fine. One meeting, one civil, polite meeting, then we’re done. Because Ricky, you aren’t the same boy I knew two years ago, and I don’t want to know you more than I already have to.”

With that, she turns heading back into the school the bell for class ringing at any moment.

* * *

Later that day at a diner on the other side of town, Ricky and Nini’s friends were chatting aimlessly as they waited for their food. The disputing pair were well aware that their friends were still close and wanted to hang out without their drama getting in the way. So, they designated a day or so every week to see each other without the pair.

“What was that today?” Big Red asks the girls, curious as to why Nini had stormed over to their lunch table earlier that day.

Ashlyn rolls her eyes at the events that had happened that day, “Kourtney decided to take her chance with the shark and ask Nini what happened between them.” Shooting a glare at her friend sitting across from her. Nini never returned to lunch and avoided everyone for the remainder of the day, not even answering any of their text messages.

The girl throws her hands up, as everyone’s eyes fall on her. “What? We’re graduating in three months, and they still can’t stop with this stupid competition. What happens after we graduate?”

“Kourt, we all want to know too, but maybe this is something they have to figure it out for themselves.” Seb says gently.

Carlos shakes his head at his boyfriend, “But don’t you see? It’s been two years and they act like they weren’t ever friends. They can’t even fake it for our benefit. When we have reunions during college are we going to schedule times separate from them too? Is that fair on us?”

The group sighs in annoyance, shaking their head at Carlos’s question, because he was right. It’s not fair, with everyone’s different schedules it’s only going to get harder, especially with everyone scattered across the country. They’ll barely have time to hang out together as it is, let alone dividing into separate groups for the sake of the feuding pair.

The waitress comes shortly after, setting all of their food down on the table in front of them, telling them to enjoy. The group remained silent, still thinking about what Carlos had said before the waitress came and interrupted them.

“What do you guys think happened?” EJ asks curiously as he takes a sip from his water, breaking the silence. Heads turning in his direction some of them with wide eyes and others with their mouth slightly open in shock at his question. He looks at them and shrugs, “I know we’ve all thought about it. I sure have.”

“Okay, hotshot,” Carlos starts, “Enlighten us.” He says as he shovels another fry into his mouth, eyebrows raised, his interest peaked.

EJ’s eyes brighten in excitement, thinking his made-up story was one for the books. He sets his fork down on the table, leaning forward, “Okay, I think one of them told the other they loved them. My money’s on Nini. Ricky doesn’t have a bold bone in his body.”

They all looked at him like he was crazy, “But that doesn’t explain the whole valedictorian thing.” Gina comments, letting her get swept up in her boyfriend’s dumb theory.

“Maybe they fought over who would make a better valedictorian,” Big Red adds onto EJ’s story.

“But Nini never cared for it.” Kourtney chimes in.

Seb and Ashlyn look over at each other as the rest of the group speculate and debate on the secretive history between the pair. They knew that this wasn’t a conversation they should be having, Ricky and Nini were their best friends after all, no matter how much they fight. They felt as if they were betraying them by talking behind their backs. “I don’t think we should be talking about this. It’s not really our business.” Seb interjects calmly.

“They’re just theories, babe.” Carlos assures his boyfriend putting a hand on his knee, “Don’t think too much about it.”

Ashlyn sends him a soft look, letting him know that she understood where he was coming from. The conversation ended up moving on to the topic of colleges and their future, pushing their feuding friends to the back of their minds.

* * *

The week had started off horribly for Nini. Her mood had flipped around Wednesday evening, Gina had just dropped her off after rehearsal with the promise to drive her again next week. Nini had dropped her bag onto the kitchen table noticing a stack of papers, one of her moms had probably brought in the mail earlier that day before heading out for work.

She begins to rifle through them, picking out the ones for her. A few of them were letters from her back up schools’ others just regular government issued letters. Nini huffs realizing her Harvard letter wasn’t in the pile. She hopes that it comes in sooner than later, the anticipation was beginning to kill her.

Begrudgingly Nini decides to heat up some dinner as she opens the few letters she did receive. There were two acceptances and one rejection, she wasn’t torn up about it, they weren’t the schools she was aiming for anyways.

After washing her plate, she heads up to her room deciding to do some homework and run over some of her lines for the musical. Taking her books out of her bag she places them on her desk moving to her closet to change into something comfier. That’s when Nini noticed a big envelope sitting at the edge of her bed.

The brunette instantly knew what was inside the letter. Her fingers danced across the envelope reading her name and address, she couldn’t believe it. Everyone knew that a big envelope means that you’re accepted, but Nini had to read the letter to believe it herself. Turning it over, she delicately opens it, pulling out the red contents. Nini’s eyes skimmed the paper over and over again. She couldn’t help but smile brightly at the paper in front of her.

She did it. _She’s going to fucking Harvard._

* * *

It was Friday and usually Nini hung out with her friends, but this Friday was a little different. She and Ricky were going to get to know each other, solely for their paper as they both agreed on earlier that week. That was how she ended up sitting at one of the little tables at Expresso, the coffee shop he works at. Nini fiddled with her latte as she waited for the boy’s shift to finish.

Her eyes looking around the quaint little shop. It’s cute, she thinks. Her favourite part was probably the stoned wall at the back of the store, the place gave her vintage and homey vibes. There weren’t that many people, asides from her she counted four people, one of them being a couple. Her eyes falling on the boy behind the counter laughing with one of the customers as he rings them up. She wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to do this. She hasn’t had a proper conversation with him in such a long time, and was nervous, this could either go incredibly well or horrifically wrong.

Taking a careful sip from her drink, she lets her mind wander to what her teacher had said earlier that week. Nini knew her proudest moments, she’s had so many, especially in the past two years. But her biggest regret? Nini didn’t quite know what hers was. She’s regretted a number of things over the course of 18 years, but her biggest? That’s something she can’t answer. This paper was going to be a challenge for her. She was good at essay’s, research papers, but something that talks about herself something that is so personal and diving into the depths of her minds. That was the scary and probably the hardest part.

Looking back to the counter, she no longer saw the boy she was waiting for, instead a tall blonde stood in his place. Confused for a split second, until she sees Ricky walking out from the backroom. She smiles tight lipped at the boy, her eyes following him as he takes a seat in front of her setting something down on the table. She eyes it curiously.

“Peace offering.” He explains sliding the mysterious brown bag over to the brunette, it wasn’t that big so she wonders what could be in it.

She couldn’t help but laugh at his comment as she takes a hold of the bag, opening it carefully. As she gets a hold of the object instantly knowing what it was, she looks up at the curly-haired boy in front of her with a questioning look. “You remember?” she asks shyly, finally taking it out of the bag to get a good look at it.

He smiles at the brunette in front of him as she was cradling the set of antique keys he had bought earlier that week. “Princess, we used to be best friends. I remember why you love them so much, it’s a cute story. Not exactly easy to forget.” He smirks as he takes a sip of his coffee. What Ricky had really meant was that everything about her isn’t easy to forget, but they weren’t ready to have that conversation quite yet.

When Nini was younger, she had read a book about how any antique looking key can take you into a different world. She had believed it for a while, until she finally got a hold of one and when she tried it, it didn’t work out. But that didn’t take out the mystery, the magic and the love she had for them. She’s been collecting antique keys ever since. Keeping them in a chest that she stored secretly underneath her bed. Nini thought it was ridiculous and stupid, so she never told anyone about them. That was until one day Ricky had tripped over the pink box knocking it over, he looked at her curiously questioning why she had so many old looking keys. Nini shyly told her story but made him promise never to tell anyone, and to that day he never did.

As she studied the keys in her hand, she couldn’t help but think about what he said. She just couldn’t believe he remembered such a small thing about her. They haven’t been friends in such a long time, she thought he’d forget the details about her, and yet he still remembers the small details about the brunette. She might not be the same Nini on the outside, but she was the same Nini on the inside, no matter how much that hurt at times.

“Thank you, Ricky.” She grins.

There was a moment where they both felt like they were sucked back to their last summer together, when they would hang out all the time. When they would go out and see movies, go to dinner, have picnics at the park or anything really, even just hanging around each other’s houses, joking with each other. Hoping that maybe one day they’d be able to say something that could change their relationship, but neither of them were prepared for the change in their relationship to be the complete opposite of what they wanted to happen.

Ricky clears his throat, realizing he had been staring at her too long. “So, where do we start?” he asks taking another sip from his coffee. She drops the keys back in the bag he gave her, gently placing them into her purse. Her eyes averting to a spot on the table, just as confused as him, suddenly an idea popped into her mind. “20 questions.” She suggests.

He sends her an amused look, “What? Like what’s your favourite colour? Easy, it’s red.” he chuckles, leaning back into his seat.

She rolls her eyes at him, “No, stupid. Real questions. Things we probably don’t know about each other. Or like something you’ve always wanted to ask me but couldn’t.” she explains as she gingerly takes a sip of her drink.

He hums, “Okay, princess. I’m going to start off easy,” he smirks, rubbing his hands together thinking for a brief moment, “Biggest pet peeve?”

She raises her eyebrows at the boy in front of her, she smiles wickedly, “Besides you?” she giggles, watching as he rolls his eyes fixing her with a look telling her to take this seriously. “Fine, fine.” She complies, tapping a finger to her chin thinking, “Oh, uh, this might sound kind of stupid or mean, but like when people clap off beat.” She admits taking a sip of her drink, avoiding the amused look he was sending her.

“When people clap off beat? Really?” he asks chuckling at her response.

She shoots him a glare, “What? It just ruins the whole song for me, an-”

“Princess,” Ricky interrupts laughing at her rambling, “It’s fine. Pet peeves are pet peeves, you can’t help yourself but get annoyed by it.” He shrugs, justifying her response.

Nodding along as she locks eyes with him, “My turn,” she smiles cradling her cup to her chest, she hums thinking what she could ask. She looks around the coffee shop, seeing if there was anything that caught her attention when her mind immediately went to his job at the coffee shop and his school work. “What inspires you?” she asks, taking a careful sip from her cup.

The question completely threw Ricky off not expecting it at all, he shakes his head, “Pass.”

She scrunches her eyebrows, confused at his response, “What do you mean pass? There’s no passing.” She voices. Trying to think why he wouldn’t want to share, she didn’t think it’d be a hard question to answer. Nini could easily respond with something along the lines of her family and friends, constantly encouraging her to reach her dreams.

“Princess, I’m not answering it.” he reiterates.

“Why? I thought this would kind of get to the question Anderson posed, like what makes you the person you are today. Does nothing inspire you?” she asks puzzled by his reluctance.

He shakes his head, chuckling lowly to himself, “You won’t get it. My inspirations aren’t as easy to explain compared to others. That’s all I’m going to say; can we move on?” he says shortly, not wanting to be too harsh with the brunette. They both agreed this meeting was going to civil, that meant not losing his temper and not making her lose hers.

Baffled by his response, she decides not to pry no matter how badly she wanted to. But she begins to worry whether he’s going to answer any of her other questions properly. “What’s something you haven’t tried, but want to?” he poses deciding to move on.

The evening had gone on, questions mostly hypothetical or about them personally. Neither of them wanting to dive any deeper, not looking for a repeat of what happened earlier. It wasn’t awkward, it felt like two people getting to know each other. The pair ignored, or forgot, about the history between them for a while, slowly feeling like two friends again.

That was until Nini absentmindedly asked the curly-haired boy, “Why the Ivy’s?” Spinning her now empty cup on the table, her eyes focusing in on the cup.

Nini didn’t see how he was glaring at her, memories flashing through his mind. The thought of the night they had fought, to all the times his mom pushed the Ivy’s down his throat, to the thought of having to decide which school he was going to accept. Ricky unsure of how to respond, he knew his answer but didn’t want to share. So, he decides on the first thing that popped into his mind, “No.”

The brunette’s head snaps up to meet his eyes, confused as to why the boy was glaring at her like she had said something wrong. “No?” she asks, sitting up in her seat feeling as if his glare was trying to make her feel smaller and she wasn’t about to let that happen.

“I’m not answering it. Pick a different question.” He orders.

She scoffs leaning back in her seat, “Why not? It’s a simple question.” She pushes. The question isn’t a hard one to answer, every person that applies to those schools have a reason besides simply being academically good enough to simply get in. Most people go for the degree and the title it comes with, others go to simply go to a good school, some go for the environment or the people.

“Princess, I’m not answering that question. Just drop it.” he demands sharply.

“No, Ricky. Just answer the question, I can’t see why you ca-”

“Why do you want to go?” he interrupts throwing the question back at her cocking an eyebrow in curiosity, “Why are you so desperate to go to an Ivy League your highness?” he sneers dropping the pleasantries he had used most of the evening.

She crosses her arms over her chest rolling her eyes at his attitude, leaning back in her chair. She couldn’t believe the audacity of the boy sitting in front of her. And to think that this meeting was going pretty well, he repeats his question again.

Fixing the boy with an intense glare, “Fine,” she huffs sitting up to her full height, “You want to know why I have worked my god damn ass off to get into those schools? To prove to you that I’m not some dumb bitch.” She points a finger at him emphasizing her point. She stands up quickly, the sound of her chair scraping against the floor echoing through the small shop causing some eyes to look over to the pair. Nini didn’t care if she was making a scene, she grabs her purse taking the gift he had given to her earlier that day out of her bag. Tossing it onto the table, signaling the end of their peace, “I didn’t get into Columbia, it’s the only Ivy that rejected me. And I shouldn’t complain because, fuck, I got into Harvard and Princeton and Yale and I just-”

She scoffs shaking her head, not willing the tears that were burning at the back of her eyes to fall, “I’ve been beating myself up about it because, you made me feel like I wasn’t good enough. I pushed myself so god damn fucking hard ever since that night, just to prove to you that you’re fucking wrong. So, yeah, you’re the reason I was so desperate to get in.”

Without another word, she turns around ready to walk out the door not wanting to hear a thing the boy had to say, she knew he wanted to it was written all over his face. Suddenly something tugs on her hand. She looks down to see his hand was grasping hers, she turns to see him standing behind her.

“Nini,” he whispers.

“Don’t. Just fucking forget it Ricky.” She says harshly, yanking her hand out of his grip making her way out the door, hoping he didn’t follow her.

“Well, that was tough to watch.” Ricky’s co-worker, Hunter, says from behind the counter. The comment causing Ricky to send a cruel glare, snatching the little bag she had left on the table making his way out of the door heading home. The words she had uttered repeating in his mind.

* * *

“Ricky, are you even listening to me?” Big Red asks.

The two boys were hanging out in Big Red’s basement like they do most Saturday’s. But when Ricky arrived he looked completely disheveled, not going unnoticed by his red-headed best friend. He hadn’t slept at all the night before, the fight replaying on his mind constantly trying to figure out some way to fix it beating himself up for letting her think of him like that.

Ricky’s head snaps up to look at his friend, “Hmm? No, yeah that’s great.” He says trying his best to respond despite not hearing a single word his friend had said.

“What’s going on man? You didn’t answer any of my texts yesterday, what were you even doing?” he questions.

Shaking his head, not wanting to talk about it, “No, nothing. Forget it, what were you saying earlier?” A poor attempt to avoid the conversation his best friend was trying to have with him. He came over trying to get his mind off the brunette, knowing that if he let his mind wander even more he’d probably just fall apart all over again.

“No.” Big Red says, “Tell me what’s bothering you. Is it school? College? The valedictorian thing? You can tell me anything dude.” He says leaning forward on his knees. Deciding his best bet was to lie and stick as close to the truth as possible, “Uh, college, yeah. I don’t know which one to accept.” He mumbles, eyes focused on his hand spinning the ring around his index finger absentmindedly.

Big Red looks at him curiously, “You never told me you got in. Anywhere.”

“Oh,” Ricky says in realization that the only person he had told was Nini, “Sorry, I just wanted to wait until everyone knew where they were going before saying anything.”

“So, which ones did you get in to?” Big Red questions knowing the schools he had applied to, including some of his safeties.

“All of them.” he says shortly.

Big Red’s mouth forms an o, in all honesty he was not surprised at all. If anyone was going to get into all the school’s they’ve applied for, it’d be Ricky. His grades were spectacular, despite being second in the class, and his extra-curriculars and volunteer work was outstanding. “Where do you want to go?” he asks curiously.

Ricky shrugs, “My top three were Yale, Columbia and Harvard,” he says, “Not so sure about Columbia anymore though.” He mumbles low enough thinking his friend didn’t hear, unfortunately for Ricky, he had.

“Why not Columbia?” the red-head asks.

He shakes his head not wanting to tell him that one of the reasons he didn’t want to go to Columbia was because of Nini, amongst other things. He felt like if he accepted Columbia it was like rubbing it in her face that she didn’t get in, like he was trying to be petty which wasn’t the case at all. And especially after what she had said the other day, he sure as hell didn’t want to go there anymore.

“Enough about me,” Ricky says shaking his head waving off the conversation, looking up at his best friend, “You staying in Salt Lake?” he asks casually.

Big Red nods excitedly, “There’s this amazing engineering program at University of Utah,” The red-head continues to talk about the program and the school. He knew Ricky was trying to avoid telling him what was actually bothering him, and that picking colleges wasn’t at the top of his mind. He let the conversation slide, trying to ease the boy and brighten his mood. It didn’t help that much, but he could tell that he did succeed in taking his mind off of things even if it was only for a few moments.

* * *

The Monday after her big blow up with Ricky at the coffee shop, Nini arrived to school a little earlier than usual. Wanting to avoid him as much as possible during the day. Making her way down the hall towards her locker, there weren’t many students lingering the hall given that it was a little early. Once Nini spots her locker, she sees something taped to it. She looks around to see if there was anyone around that could’ve put it there, not seeing anyone she knew she moved closer, her curiosity peeking. It was a small brown bag that she instantly recognized from the other day, with a yellow sticky note with easily identifiable chicken scratch etched on it in blue ink. She huffs, reading the 5 little words on it.

> _I’m sorry. Can we talk?_

Tugging the little brown bag that she knew held the keys he had try giving to her a few days prior. Throwing her locker open collecting the things she needed for the first half of the day. Venturing off into the cafeteria knowing he hangs out there with his friends before classes start. Immediately finding the curly-haired boy sitting at his usual lunch table, not letting her scowl drop from her face as she approached the group.

Ricky looks up instantly making eye contact with the brunette, knowing how badly he had fucked up. He was a little hopeful, just getting to talk to her would be enough for him, but he saw the expression on her face and instantly knew the answer to his note.

Nini was pissed at him, more so than usual. She throws the bag bitterly at his chest, he moves quickly to catch it. The flying object brought the group’s attention to move to the familiar brunette. Nini didn’t dare to look at anyone else but Ricky, “No.” she says harshly. Turning back around quickly, hoping homeroom was already open so she could sit in the empty classroom not wanting to see anyone right now.

The curly-haired boy moved at lightning speed, getting out of his seat and picking up his bag running over the brunette whilst calling her name repeatedly. His friends tried their best not to make it obvious they were watching their friend run over to the girl trying to catch up with her. Noting that he hadn’t called her princess or one of the other nicknames he had for her, but her actual name.

“Nini, wait, come on, Nini, please!” he begs, tugging on her hand finally reaching her, the pair stopping just at the staircase.

Rolling her eyes, yanking her hand out of his grip as she turned around, snapping at the boy, “Why? To tell me you’re sorry? To tell me that you didn’t mean it like that? Well, sucks to be you. I don’t want your apology.”

“I didn’t! Nini, come on. You were my best friend, of course I didn’t mean it like that. Do you seriously think I thought of you like that? I just, I-I-”

“You what? Huh?” she pegs pushing at his chest, as she watches him trip over his words looking for an explanation. She shakes her head at the boy standing in front of her, trying his best to explain himself to no avail. She chuckles dryly, she can feel the tears pricking at the back of her eyes, “That’s exactly it Ricky. You can’t even tell me why you said it. It’s been two years and you still can’t make yourself tell me why you did it, not even some sorry excuse of why you did.” She sighs, pressing a hand to her temple irritated by the curly-haired boy. Her eyes started travelling around the cafeteria and she sees his friends and a few other people watching them curiously.

Ricky was looking down at her intently, looking like he wanted to say something but didn’t know what. His mouth opening and closing trying to form words – something, anything. She hoists her bag up on her shoulder, beginning to feel uncomfortable by the number of eyes that were on them. “I can’t do this with you anymore.” She says turning around making it up a few steps.

“You’re more than enough!” he shouts.

Tears started to well in her eyes, the four words she’s wanted to hear from him ever since that dreadful night. But, Nini knew she couldn’t let him get to her. She told herself he didn’t mean it, he’s just saying that, trying to dig himself out of the hole he had made. Somewhere deep inside of her desperately wanted to forgive him, but she couldn’t. Not after everything he’s put her through the last two years. She turns around slowly, locking her eyes with his not daring to let herself seem weak in front of the one person that has broken her.

“Fuck you.” She says quietly, as a tear escapes her eye wiping it away harshly bolting up the stairs, praying he doesn’t follow her.

“Fuck.” Ricky says punching the wall, taking a seat on the staircase she had just ran up.

The group had watched the entire interaction between the pair, more confused than ever. Carlos quickly sending a text to their group chat, requesting an emergency meeting at their diner after school. The group didn’t know what to do or what to say, as they watched their curly haired friend stare down at the mysterious bag in his hands. The same question running through everyone’s mind.

What _the fuck_ did he do?

* * *

The day had gone on as usual, minus the constant bickering between the pair. Ashlyn tried asking Nini if she was okay since she was being oddly quiet, but Big Red nudged her foot shaking his head. Carlos hadn’t given any context to his text, the girl understanding why they were meeting up.

Nini did her best to avoid eye contact, while Ricky stared at her begging in his mind for her to look at him. Ricky couldn’t manage to pay attention in any of his classes that day. He couldn’t get the brunette off his mind, he wanted to talk to her, but he didn’t know what to say. He knew she was right, she always is. He knew why he said what he did, but he couldn’t tell her. Ricky always figured her hating him would make it easier, but it was starting to prove him wrong.

Neither of them had said a word at lunch to their friends. They sat silently at their respective tables, sneaking glances at one another or staring down at their food. When the final bell of the day rang, Nini quickly got everything she needed running back to her house as fast as possible. Ricky tried to catch up with her, before she left but he had just missed her. Dejectedly, he made his way to his car driving himself home.

Gina and Kourtney were the last to arrive at the diner, quickly making their way to their friends sitting at their usual table. Noting how everyone was silently looking at the menus in front of them, like they haven’t been here a thousand times over. The two girls could feel the tension through their friends. There was something going on, and they didn’t know if they should be nervous. Ashlyn shot them a text earlier that day letting them know something happened between Ricky and Nini she wasn’t sure what but they knew it must be serious and warned them not to say anything at lunch.

Gina takes a seat next to her boyfriend, “Are you guys ready to order?” she asks not needing to look at the menu to know what she wanted to get, breaking the silence that was casting over the group. Everyone nodded as she put her hand up signaling to the waiter they were ready.

After the waiter takes everyone’s order, Gina nudges her boyfriend to start talking. EJ sighs, “So, something happened this morning.” He starts, looking around at his friends trying to read their expressions, despite the lack of explanation he had given.

“Obviously,” his cousin deadpans rolling her eyes at the dark-haired boy, “What happened?”

The group leaning forward to hear the water-polo player better, “Ricky and Nini were fighting-”

“They’re always fighting,” Kourtney interrupts.

EJ’s head snaps in her direction, “If you’d let me finish!” he says a little harshly, mumbling a quick apology not meaning to sound so aggressive. “They were fighting about what happened two years ago.”

The girls and Seb’s jaws dropped. “Well, what happened?” Gina asks, speaking on behalf of the group. It was common knowledge that Ricky and Nini used to be the best of friends, and any information on the night that had broken them apart was something that had been waiting for since the fallout. No one knew what happened, the pair always brushing off saying they just couldn’t be friends anymore, never elaborating.

“Honestly, they didn’t give us much.” Carlos interjects, “All we know is that Ricky had said something to her. We don’t know what he said, but when she tried to leave he basically yelled echoing in the cafeteria that she was more than enough.”

“And, get this, he never called her princess. Not even once.” Big Red adds.

EJ nods, “It was all very intense. We see them fight all the time, but this one just felt different.” Everyone fell silent once EJ had admitted it. They weren’t sure what to think about the whole situation. Thinking about what it was like before everything had went to shit, when they were once a big group of friends.

“Different?” Seb asks curiously.

The three boys nod, “Normally their fights are purely filled with teasing hate, it’s always been like bickering and all about a competition between them” Carlos says, his eyes moving to his boyfriend, “But this one was emotionally charged. I don’t even know what to think.”

“I think something happened on Friday between them.” Big Red says out of the blue as he sets his fork down on the table. Heads snapping in his direction eyes wide and some of their jaws had fallen slightly, not expecting his message at all.

“What do you mean?” Ashlyn asks stunned.

Big Red sighs, recalling how Ricky had been acting off on Saturday, “He was just acting weird on Saturday, but he told me it’s because he’s deciding on what school he wanted to go to.”

“He got accepted?” EJ questions. “Where?”

Big Red nods, “All of them.” No one was particularly surprised, just like Red when Ricky had first told him the previous weekend. “He’s thinking about Yale, Harvard and Columbia. But he didn’t look like he wanted to go to Columbia after he said it, I don’t really know why. When I asked why not he just shut down.”

Kourtney looks at Gina with a knowing look, “Nini got rejected by Columbia. It’s the only Ivy she got rejected from.” Gina informs the group.

The group beginning to connect the dots surrounding the feuding pair, realizing that Ricky must’ve found out that she got rejected. But wasn’t sure as to why he would just stop considering going to Columbia just because she couldn’t.

Ashlyn lets out an exasperated sigh rubbing her temples for a moment, she just wanted everyone to be happy again sick and tired of all the fighting and the disagreeing, “We just have to let them figure it out themselves. It’s not our place.”

“But what if they don’t?” Kourtney asks.

The red-head shrugs, “Then they don’t.”

The three little words echoing in everyone’s minds. They hated that this was their reality. With the little amount of time they had left to be happy and together before going their separate ways, they just wanted everything to go back to the way it used to be.

The waiter came by with their food, setting everyone’s respective plates in front of them. Asking once more if they needed anything before making his way back to the kitchen. As everyone was silently pushing the food around on their plates, Gina clears her throat, something she’s been wanting to share with everyone for a while.

The noise had caused her friends to look in her direction, “I got in,” she says quietly, “I’m going to UCLA.” Smiles beginning to grow on everyone’s faces, the thoughts about their feuding friends slipping their minds. Gina was the last of their friends to get an acceptance letters. EJ pulls Gina into his side, pressing a hard kiss to her cheek, mumbling how proud he was of her.

“This calls for a celebration!” Carlos says excitedly, as everyone gets up to hug their friend. The group gushing about college and their future. Everyone beginning to realize how far away everyone was going to be from each other, but not letting them affect them until the time comes.

* * *

Nini was sitting on her roof thinking about the events of the day. She wanted to scream and cry all at the same time. She didn’t want to let Ricky back into her life, he hurt her so badly. He also had such a tight hold on her heart, she wanted to hate him but she couldn’t. The four words he had said echoing in her mind, constantly on repeat.

_You’re more than enough._

Squeezing her eyes tight pulling her knees closer to her chest, burying her head in them. Her brain was telling her not to forgive him, that he’s not worth it. But her heart was saying something completely different. And she knew why. She yearned to have him as a friend again, she felt like life was just lighter and happier with him around. He made it fun and enjoyable, even when they had their little feud going on. She didn’t want him to completely leave her life, but was it worth all the heartache?

Propping her head up on her knees looking out into the night. She wasn’t sure what to do, her mind racing. Suddenly she sees the curly-haired boy that has been filling her mind more than she’d like to admit. He was skating down the street casually, he looks over to her house and up at her roof spotting the petite brunette watching him. Nini instantly moves to climb back into her window, still not having a clear-cut decision on what she wants to do with the boy looking up at her.

“Nini, wait!” he calls, skating up her driveway, running over to stand on her front lawn just underneath her window.

She looks down at the boy, “What do you want me to say Ricky?” She asks tiredly.

He runs a hand down his face, unclipping his helmet shaking his curls out. He drops the helmet next to his skateboard laying on the grass, “Nini. Please forgive me. I never meant it like that.”

The brunette couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the boy, she feels like they are running through the same conversation over and over. Tiredly she says, “You say that Ricky, but you don’t give me an explanation as to why you said it. There’s no reason for me to forgive you.” Trying her best to not let her voice shake as her emotions begin to overwhelm her.

She watches as his eyes stay trained on her, like he’s looking for the right words to say. She sighs, “Good night Ricky.” Cutting their conversation short, climbing into her window. Squeezing her eyes shut once more, pressing her forehead against the glass. She needed to figure out what she wanted.

“Nini!” her mom calls for her. The brunette shouts back a response in acknowledgment, when her mom doesn’t answer she makes her way to the stairs in search for her mom. Nini freezes halfway down the stairs when she spots her mom at the front door with Ricky standing next to her. She glares at the curly-haired boy, she couldn’t believe he had the nerve to knock on her door. Was he that desperate to talk to her?

Making her way down the steps to the pair standing at the door, clearing her throat confused as to what to say, “I’m just going to talk to Ricky on the porch. Trust me, I won’t be long.” Dana nods her head at her daughter, letting her know it’s okay as long as she’s inside by eleven. She bids a farewell to the young boy, making her way back into the kitchen.

The brunette swiftly opens the door pushing Ricky onto the porch. Once the door falls closed behind her, she sends the boy a sharp look, “What the fuck.” She bites.

He simply shrugs, “I need to talk to you, but you just walked back into your room. I had to be drastic Nini.”

Some nerve he had to come knocking at her front door, she couldn’t believe him. “I thought I made it pretty clear that I didn’t want to talk.” Her brain felt like it was going to explode, she wanted to scream and push him but she also wanted to hear what he had to say. She hated how she was so easily swayed by the boy, even after everything.

“I know, I know. It’s just,” he pauses, trying to form a sentence. He takes a hold of her hand, dragging her to sit on her front steps. He looks out to the street silently, as Nini waited patiently for him to continue, “I don’t think I can tell you yet why I said it,” causing Nini to huff preparing herself to walk back inside.

Before she could move, Ricky puts a hand on her knee, “Just hear me out, okay?” The brunette eyes him curiously, but agrees. She watches as he retracts his hand from the spot on her knee, clasping his hands together. Taking a deep breath, eyes focusing in on the dark sky, “I can’t tell you why, at least not yet anyways. I just need you to know that I didn’t say it because I didn’t think you were good enough. Because Nini, you are, in more ways than one.”

Finally finding the courage to look at the girl sitting next to him, “I’m not here to ask for an apology because I don’t deserve it. I just don’t want you doubting your self-worth because of me. I hate myself for letting you think that you’re not enough. Because, Nini, sweetheart, you are. I’m the one that isn’t.”

To say Nini was speechless would be an understatement. Her mind was trying to wrap itself around the words that had just fell from his mouth. She wasn’t quite sure what to think. Her emotions were bouncing off the walls, unsure of what to do with herself. She never thought that she’d live to see the day that Ricky Bowen told her she was good enough, not even looking for her to accept his apology.

Without another word he stands up, making his way back to his skateboard and helmet that was still laying haphazardly on her lawn. She watches him carefully as he straps his helmet on his head. With one final look to the brunette on the steps, he grabs his skateboard making his way onto the street.

“Good night Nini.” He says sending her a regretful smile, before taking off down the road.

Nini pulls her knees closer to her chest, resting her chin on top of them. Her mind thinking about what he had said. The brunette knew he was sincere, she could hear it clearly in his voice. The pair may have changed a lot on the outside over the course of the two years, but everything inside still remained the same. The voice he used to convince her that he was being completely and utterly honest, the way he looked at her was the same way he used to look at her years ago with soft eyes and a small smile fighting its way on to his face. Nini unsure of what to do. He was right, he didn’t deserve to be forgiven, but Nini also believed in second chances. The real question is can her heart take it?

* * *

The following day, Nini had found the little bag taped to her locker once more. She couldn’t help but let a small smile itch its way onto her face as she looked at them. After thinking long and hard about everything that had happened the night before, she figured it was worth giving him a second shot. She wasn’t going to jump into things with him, maybe just start with being all around nicer with him and just getting to know him better again. No more snide remarks or comments, no more rude jokes, saying hi to him in class or in the halls. She thinks she could manage that.

As she was rifling through her locker, she sees her friend’s walking in her direction. She manages a small smile, greeting the three girls, “Morning, where’s Seb?” she asks absentmindedly, grabbing her chemistry book closing her locker shortly after.

“He got a ride with Carlos this morning.” Ashlyn informs her. Nini nods, looking at her friends curiously. They were sending each other a look that Nini didn’t quite understand. She hoists her backup on her shoulder, as they make their way down the hall.

“Why are you guys acting so weird?” Nini asks curiously.

“Nothing!” Gina says rather quickly, but before Nini could question her friend Gina quickly adds, “I got in to UCLA.” Causing Nini’s jaw to drop, pulling the dancer in for a hug. Repeating how proud she was of her, pulling away letting the other girls congratulate her.

When they didn’t move to hug their friend, she quickly caught on that they had already known and she was the last one to find out. “Why didn’t you tell me when you told them?” Not particularly mad, just a little sad and confused that she was the last one she decided to tell.

Before Nini could jump to any more conclusions, Gina quickly waves her hands in front of her, “Nini, it’s not that I didn’t want to tell you! We were just at the diner with the guys, and like, I just let it slip.” Nini nods in understanding, she reminds when she had first learned that they all still meet up after the end of her and Ricky’s friendship. Again, not entirely mad, she just likes to be kept in the loop of things.

“Can I join you guys some time?” she asks suddenly.

“At the diner? With the guys?” Ashlyn questions.

The three girls’ heads turned in the direction of the small brunette stopping in the middle of the hallway. They looked at her like she asked some life-altering question, Nini couldn’t help but chuckle turning towards her friends, nodding in response to Ashlyn’s question, “I miss the guys I guess. And once we graduate everyone’s going to be in different states, who knows when the next time I’ll see everyone.” She waves them off like it wasn’t a big deal, because to her it wasn’t.

“What about Ricky?” Kourtney asks, as Gina and Ashlyn nudge the girl in the middle warningly.

Nini shrugs, “It’s fine.” She says shortly waving the comment off, not wanting them to figure out she’s going to try and work towards being friends with him again, especially not when she’s had a chance to talk to Ricky about it first. The school bell ringing through the halls, signaling it was time to go to class.

She drags Ashlyn in the direction of their chemistry class leaving the other two girls to watch them curiously, wondering what their friend meant by that. They’d never thought they’d see the day Nini was willing to hang out with Ricky’s friends again. Nini was still polite to the three boys, they were her friends too at a point. But, after everything that happened she had just felt uncomfortable and awkward around them, she managed polite conversation, waves and smiles in the halls or classrooms. But other than that, Nini wouldn’t go out of her way to hang out with them.

When Nini and Ashlyn arrive to their class, they see Big Red and Ricky already in their seats. The two girls make their way over, Big Red greeting the two girls as they take their seats. Nini smiles brightly at the red-head, her gaze falling to Ricky whose head was staring down at his notebook, not daring to look up at the brunette.

Deciding to be bold and initiate the pleasantries, “Good morning Ricky.” She smiles at him when his head snaps up in her direction.

“Princess, hi,” he breathes out, examining her face in an attempt to gage what she was feeling about the night before, but unable to get a read. He figures since she greeted him first and hadn’t thrown the bag of keys at him again that it was a good sign. At least they were civil enough to make eye contact. It was definitely a step up from yesterday.

The rest of class had gone on as usual, their teacher’s mouth running and it felt like it was never going to stop. At some point in class Big Red nudged Ricky’s elbow, silently asking about the interaction between him and the brunette, to which he simply shrugged, brushing it off, not entirely sure himself.

As the bell echoes signaling the end of class. Ricky began to collect his books, storing them neatly in his bag, hoisting the now packed bag onto his shoulder. Finally looking up he sees Nini looking at him, like she was waiting for him to finish packing so they could walk together. He shoots her a questioning look, Nini deciding to cut to the chase and ask, “Can we talk before going to lunch?”

The question throwing the curly-haired boy off, he nods curtly as he watches her make her way towards the door following Ashlyn to their next class. As Ricky walks alongside Big Red, he couldn’t help but ask his taller friend, “What was that about?”

Ricky shrugs, shaking his head, “Beats me.”

* * *

As promised, Ricky goes in search for Nini once the bell for lunch had rung. He went to her classroom first, hoping he’d catch her before she went off somewhere. Unfortunately, he had just narrowly missed her, deciding to head to her locker next. He finds her standing in front of her locker, looking like she’s contemplating something.

Deciding to be a little funny, he sneaks up behind the girl standing right behind her, “Are you planning on eating your books for lunch?” he asks, causing the petite girl to jump and turn around in shock. She glares punching him in the shoulder, “Not funny.”

He chuckles leaning against the locker next to hers, “What did you want to talk about?” he asks, crossing his arms over his chest slightly nervous about whatever she’s going to say.

Nini smirks at the boy, pulling the final textbook out of her bag and shoving it in her locker. “I’m not forgiving you just yet,” she starts. She watches as his face falls slightly as the words left her mouth, but it had only flashed across his face for a moment. “But, I want to get there. Eventually.”

When Nini had told him during first period that she wanted to talk, he did not expect her to say that she wants to start working on forgiving him. He thought she was just going to tell her to stop leaving the keys he bought and passing by her house late at night. “Are you sure about this Nini? I don’t deserve to be forgiven after what I said to you and made you feel.” He says sheepishly eyes trained on his feet.

“I am Ricky. It might take a while, but I think if we work on it together we could get there. I might not understand why you did it, but we can work our way there.” She assures him.

“If you’re sure. What would that entail?” he asks nervously, still doubtful that he deserves her kindness and compassion. Closing her locker and pulling her backpack over her shoulder, she looks up at the tall boy in front of her. “I hadn’t thought that far. But I think we can start by just being nice to each other, start from the beginning and get to know each other again.” She admits embarrassedly.

“Okay, easy enough. No more snide comments, or nicknames,” he says listing a few things off.

Nini shakes her head, “You can call me princess. I kind of like it.” she admits.

The comment bringing his head up meeting her gaze, “You do?” he asks surprised by her confession. He doesn’t know why he started calling her that, but he felt like it suited it her so well, and it slowly began to sound more sarcastic over time, so he had just stuck with it.

She nods shyly, clearing her throat a beginning to get slightly uncomfortable with the eye contact, “Look, um, I’ve been thinking about what you said about the whole Ivy League acceptance thing.” She recalls their fight the day they had found out they were going to be partners for their English project. He opens his mouth getting ready to spout some apology, but Nini places a hand on his arm stopping him, “You were right. I was selfish. Gina told me she got into UCLA this morning, and I was the last to know. She told everyone, even your friends before me. And I just, I couldn’t help but think about what you said, so.”

“Nini, you’re not selfish, I said that out of anger and I was completely out of line. I never should have said that. You should be so fucking proud.” He assures her.

The brunette nods, “We should probably head to lunch.” She says cutting the conversation short and putting some space between them again feeling a wave of awkwardness wash over them. Nini knew she wanted to work towards being friends again, forgiving him, and she felt like it was happening too quickly.

The pair make their way down to the cafeteria together, chatting aimlessly, agreeing to meet on Friday to work on their paper again. Stopping at the bottom of the staircase, they turned facing each other, knowing they had to head towards different tables. Unsure of what to say she looks up at him, “I’ll see you around then?” she asks anxiously.

He smiles down at the girl, “Yeah,” he nods, biting his lip nervously, “Thank you Nini, for giving me another chance.” Returning the smile eyes locking for a second too long, “I should probably,” she trails off, pointing her finger over her shoulder gesturing to her friends sitting at her usual lunch table.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, “No, yeah, I’ll see you,” he was about to turn around to head over to his friends, “Oh, and tell Gina I said congrats.” He smiles tightly at the brunette. She nods as she makes her way over to her friends who were watching the interaction carefully, shooting texts to the boys who were watching the pair on the other side of the cafeteria.

Once Nini approaches the table, she smiles at her friends, “Hey,” she greets shortly taking a seat next to Seb. She was rifling through her bag looking for the sandwich she had packed earlier that morning, not noticing the confused looks her friends were shooting her.

Finally finding her sandwich, she takes it out unwrapping it, her mind drifting to the curly-haired boy, instantly remembering what he had told her just before making her way to her friends. “Gi,” she calls getting the girl’s attention, “Ricky said congrats about UCLA.” She says taking a bite from her lunch.

“Oh, um, thanks,” Gina mutters still confused on the interaction between the usual feuding pair. Just the other day Nini and Ricky had a serious fight, and now they seemed the friendliest they have been to each other in the past two years. Gina deciding, she couldn’t take not knowing, she rushes to ask, “Why were you talking to Bowen?”

Nini swallows her food, her eyes looking to her friends who were watching her intently waiting for her answer. To which she just shrugs, “No reason.” Causing the group to shoot her a look of disbelief.

“Nini, girl.” Kourtney sternly says, “Don’t make us pull it out of you.”

The brunette puts her sandwich down on the table, clearing her throat. “Nothing. We’re going to try and work things out.” She answers.

The group shocked by her statement, looking at the brunette quizzically. Ashlyn leans closer to her friend, “Nins, if you don’t mind me asking, why the change of heart?” She asks quietly. None of them believing that in the span of 24 hours, the pair had a straight up brawl in the cafeteria to being all friendly again.

In replacement of an answer she shrugs falling silent she did mind her asking, eyes trained on her sandwich as she picks of the crust. Her four friends noting that she didn’t want to talk about it, deciding to let it go for the time being.

Across the cafeteria the four boys were having a very similar conversation with their curly-headed friend, who wasn’t giving them as much as Nini had. Given that the information he offered was next to none, Carlos had texted their group chat letting everyone know about the lack of success they had trying to gain any form of insight. Seb reminding them that it’s not their place to know, and the pair will tell them whenever they are ready.

“Babe,” Carlos starts, getting his boyfriend’s attention as they were walking out of school later that day. Seb turns to look at him, humming in acknowledgement. “Why do you keep insisting that we shouldn’t push Ricky and Nini? Don’t you want them to fix whatever’s going on between them?” He asks curiously.

The blonde sighs, stopping as they reached Carlos’s car, “I do. But that’s something they have to do on their own. All you know we could make it worse, and I feel like we invade their privacy when we try to get intel.”

Carlos shakes his head, “But what if we do something and it makes it better?” he asks leaning against the black vehicle.

Seb sends him an adoring look, understanding why he wanted to help the pair to figure things out so badly. “Baby, you have to realize that it’s their life. If we intervene and it turns out horribly, we would be at fault for destroying their relationship even further.” He says as he places a comforting hand on his shoulder, hoping he’d understand where he was coming from.

The dark-haired boy simply nodded, pulling his boyfriend in for a hug. “I just want things to go back to way they were before we leave this place.” He whispers.

The blonde boy hugs him tighter to his chest, “I know honey, me too.”

* * *

A sharp ring echoed through his room, realizing it was his phone going off across his room, he moved from his desk towards his night stand where his phone sat answering the call. “Mom.” He greets shortly knowing exactly why she was calling.

“So?” she asks. When Lynne had flown back to Chicago the week prior she had ordered Ricky to make his final decision soon, this irritated Ricky to no end. Every call he had with her, she would always lead with the same question, whether he had chosen a school.

Ricky didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. It was his future, not hers. Sure, she’s the biggest reason he pushed himself so hard, but it wasn’t like she had given him any option. If he didn’t get into a single Ivy League, he couldn’t imagine his life going smoothly – he’d be dead.

“Yale or Harvard. I’m still deciding.” He replies, taking a seat back at his desk.

He hears her sigh over the phone, it wasn’t the answer she wanted but it was a step forward than where he had been a week ago. “Well, if you want my opinion, I-”

“No, I don’t want your opinion,” he says boldly getting tired of his mom constantly trying to intervene with his life. Deciding his future, who he can hang out with, what he was allowed to do on his free time. He was tired of her controlling his life. Yes, life had been easier when his parents got divorced and she moved to Chicago for work. But that didn’t stop the incessant calling and nagging about his life and how if he didn’t get his shit together, they can kiss his future down the drain.

“Excuse me?” she says angrily into the phone.

He squeezes the bridge of his nose, screwing his eyes shut. He knew he shouldn’t have said it, but he was getting tired of her constant need to control his future. He knows the minute he chooses a school his mom will have his whole academic career planned out. “I can’t talk right now. I got to go.” He says into the phone cutting their conversation short, hanging up on her.

He knew what school he wanted. It was the matter of whether the brunette that lives in his mind was going to forgive him. It’s her dream school and if she didn’t want him to go there, he’ll gladly go to Yale. He just needs to see if he can win his best friend back.

* * *

“Hi, what can I ge-” Ricky starts, stopping himself realizing who the next customer in line was, he smiles at the small brunette, “Princess, what are you doing here?” he asks, not expecting to see anyone he knew today.

She smiles at boy, “Well, I was going over my assignments and schedules and stuff, and I realized we cut ourselves short last time when we tried working on that paper for Anderson’s class,” she rambles, realizing she had a point she wanted to get to, “So, I was wondering if you were busy after work? We can get to know each other – properly this time.”

The boy couldn’t help but chuckle at the girl, “Yeah, of course. I finish in about an hour, if you don’t mind waiting.” He says double-checking his watch. She shakes her head, not mind having to wait until he finished.

“Did you want a latte again? On the house.” He offers.

“Oh no, I couldn’t! Let me pay,” she says rushing into her bag taking out her wallet.

Ricky laughs at her actions, “Princess, really. It’s okay.” He winks at her, moving to start making her beverage.

She huffs realizing he wasn’t go to budge, as she slips her wallet back into her bag. Nini smiles brightly as he gently hands her the beverage. She tells him she’s going to sit and get some work done until he finished his shift.

Making her way over to the seat she had occupied last time, right by the window. Nini takes out a few books and her highlighter. She could only read a few sentences, constantly getting distracted. Every once in a while, she would he hear Ricky’s charming voice from behind the counter as he talked to a customer. He had a way with people that she never understood, he was always so welcoming and friendly. When Nini works at the bookstore a block over, no one really paid much mind to her when she tried making small conversation.

Her attention moving to the pedestrians walking up and down the street just outside the window. It was one of the warmer days out, so Nini couldn’t help but giggle when she saw someone wearing a thicker jacket than needed. To each their own she guesses. One of Nini’s favourite past times was people watching. Not in a weird way, but she liked to make up stories in her mind; like what had they done that day, what their life is like, biggest aspirations in life.

The brunette’s train of thought gets interrupted by the curly-haired boy calling her from behind the counter, checking to make sure that she’s doing okay. Nini couldn’t help but blush as he caught her staring out into the street watching the hustle and bustle of the city. She nods assuring him she’s perfectly fine and to focus on his work.

When the hour was up, Hunter had come in to take over Ricky’s shift like he did every Friday, noticing the brunette sitting by the window when he had walked in. He looked over to his co-worker cocking an eyebrow silently questioning on why the girl that had cussed him out just last week was here again. Ricky simply just shrugs with a small smile etching its way onto his face as he unties the brown apron from around his waist.

“Princess,” he catches her attention making his way over to the small girl staring out the window just after clocking out of his shift. “Do you maybe want to get out of here? I’m a little hungry, we can stop by Taco Bell and do this at my house?” he suggests a little hopeful. The brunette nods, closing her books and shoving them into her bag following the tall boy towards his car.

The car ride over wasn’t as awkward as Nini expected it to be. They talked about his work, she watched as he retold a funny story he had with a customer earlier that day. The sound of Ricky’s Spotify playing lowly through the Bluetooth speaker filling the car. Pulling up to the familiar house, Ricky throws the car into park grabbing his bag from the back along with the food they had gotten. Silently, Nini follows his lead, trailing behind him into his house.

Everything looks the same she thinks. The pair deciding to set up in the living room, Nini places her bag on the floor next to his. She sits carefully on the couch, feeling a little uncomfortable seeing how she hasn’t been there in nearly two years. A ton of memories flashed before her, from when they were happy and spent all their time together, it just made her a little sad.

He notices her tight posture and clasped hands, he places a hand on her knee, “Nins, relax. It’s not like it’s your first time here.” He assures her.

She sighs her posture relaxing slightly at his touch, “I know. I just,” she pauses thinking, “You know what, ignore me. I’m being ridiculous.” She says waving off her thoughts, reaching for the bag of food on the table.

Before she could grasp it, Ricky snatches it out of her reach. She utters a small protest pouting at the boy, hoping he would give in. He shakes his head, putting a hand up as to block her pouty face, “Tell me what’s going on in your brain Princess. We want to work on trusting each other again, this is step one.”

The brunette huffs, sinking her body into the back of the couch crossing her arms over her chest. “Fine, don’t feed me. See if I care.”

“Nini!” he begs dragging out the last syllable, sending her his best puppy dog eyes.

She was about to respond but was interrupted by the front door opening. “Ricky,” a voice calls, “I’m home and I-” Mike Bowen’s announcement falls short when he spots his son and the brunette on couch.

“Nini, I wasn’t expecting you. It’s been a while,” he smiles brightly at the young girl, setting his bag down on the dining table. Nini gets up from her seat brushing off her jeans, “Sorry, I thought Ricky would’ve mentioned me coming over.” She apologizes, sending the curly-haired boy a glare.

“It’s good to see you again, Mr. Bowen,” she smiles sticking her hand out to shake the older man’s. Mike couldn’t help but laugh at her hand, “How many times do I have to tell you to call me Mike? I think I’ve known you long enough that we can hug.” Nini couldn’t help but chuckle nodding her head as she wraps her arms around him.

As Nini returns to her seat next to Ricky who was grinning at the interaction between the brunette and his father. Mike started up conversation with the young girl, “So Nini, how are your college applications going?” He asks absentmindedly as he’s rifling through the mail.

“Really good! I still have to accept my admission, I just wanted to do it with my moms there, you know them being my support system and all.” She replies.

“Ah, what school?” he asks casually.

“Harvard. It’s always been the dream.” She smiles giddily.

Mike looks over to his son who had remained silent since he had gotten home, “That’s fantastic, Nini. Your moms must be so proud. Rick, isn’t that the school you’re thinking about?” His question catching the attention of his son.

The young boy nods leaning back into the couch, biting his lip a little nervously as he watches Nini’s reaction. “That and Yale, yeah.” The brunette remained silent, not giving much indication of what she was thinking about. He knew she wasn’t surprised knowing that he had gotten everywhere he had applied.

Mike decides he was going to find something to eat from the fridge then head up for the night. He congratulates Nini one last time making his way into the kitchen, leaving the pair to themselves once more.

Nini turns to face Ricky, her eyes questioning the boy sitting in front of her, staring down at his hands. “You haven’t decided?” Nini asks. She was so sure that he had already made up his mind on where he was going to go. Ever since she met Ricky she knew he was always working towards getting into an Ivy, it’s what drove him. So, she thought that since he got into all the one’s applied for he already had his heart set on one of them, she knew she did.

He shakes his head, grabbing their forgotten dinner taking the food out handing over her order. Nini eyes him questioningly, she doesn’t want to pry since they’ve only just recently reconciled but something just didn’t sit right.

As she takes a bite into her taco, she pokes her toe into his thigh, “Why not? There wasn’t a school you were just dying to get into?” she asks, not able to help herself.

“Do you mind if we don’t talk about it?” he questions in replacement of a response. Not wanting to let him drop the topic, but they weren’t really friends anymore so she couldn’t keep pushing. She nods, “Okay, just so you know. If you’re choosing between Yale and Harvard, I think you’d look really good in red.” She smiles taking another bite of her taco.

He looks at her astonished, “Really?”

She chuckles nodding, “Yeah, it’s a nice colour. It compliments y-”

“No, Nini,” he says interrupting her, grabbing her attention given the serious tone he had used, “I meant, you wouldn’t mind if I went to Harvard?” he asks locking eyes with the brunette.

She looks at him confused, “Of course not, why would you ask that?” She asks quizzically, setting down her food on the coffee table giving him her full attention.

“It’s just,” he starts trying to collect his thoughts not exactly sure how to explain it, he crumples up the now empty taco wrapper tossing it onto the table, “It’s always been your dream, and we only just started trying to fix things between us. So, I didn’t think you’d want to spend another four years seeing me around campus.”

Taken aback by his confession, she observes him carefully noting how he’s fiddling with the ring that he never takes off, eyes fixated on anything but her, he’s nervous she realizes. She scoots closer to him, her knee touching his as she takes a gentle hold of his elbow bringing his eyes to lock with hers.

“Ricky, I don’t want you not to go to Harvard because I’m going, I don’t want you to limit yourself.” She assures, promising that she’s perfectly okay with him if does decide to accept his admission to the same institution as her. “Plus, you said it yourself, we’re fixing things. And, I wouldn’t hate having a familiar face in Massachusetts.” She adds nudging her body into his bringing the curly-headed boy to smile at her.

“Thanks, Princess.”

She smiles brightly at the boy next to her, knowing she did her best to encourage him to pursue whatever and wherever he wanted. The rest of the evening was spent with the pair reconnecting and getting to know each other all over again. Nini slowly but surely was beginning to forgive the boy that was sitting in front of her teasing and joking around with him felt like no time has passed between them. They didn’t talk about their past or what the future holds for them, rather focusing on the here and now and for them that was perfectly okay.

* * *

Two weeks had passed with Nini and Ricky hanging out more often. Some afternoons they would talk endlessly about the day they had or about something they saw on TV the other night that made them think of the other. Other days they would study together at the coffee shop or one of their houses. The pair was slowly starting to slip into their old habits of texting each other first thing in the morning especially when one of them had a weird dream, or nudging the other in class jokingly. It was as if the past two years had never happened and they picked up right where they left off.

Their friends were beginning to notice the comfortability and ease between the pair. Mostly Ashlyn and Big Red since they had so many classes with the Ricky and Nini, they got to see how they would exchange notes and joke around before and after class, walking together in between classes. The two groups were still sitting at separate tables, their friends not wanting to push the pair seeing as that everything has been going so well in the last few weeks.

It was Friday which meant that Nini spent the afternoon in Ricky’s coffee shop after hanging out with the girls and Seb. Nini decided to forgo bringing her books this time around, realizing that she never actually gets any work done there, preferring to watch cars zooming by and walking pedestrians. She was sipping on her, yet again, free latte which she kept on insisting to pay for but Ricky always declined ensuring her it was perfectly fine.

Nini looks over to the curly-headed boy hiding a small smile behind her cup. She watched as he moved behind the counter swiftly as he made the customers drink. He looks up at the brunette eyes locking instantly, he shoots her a small wink causing her to laugh.

The last few days Nini started to think that it’s time he knew she was ready to forgive him. In the past few weeks he showed time and time again that he believed in what she could do, praising her even if he had done better on their AP chemistry test. She had forgiven a while ago she knows, it was the way he was with her treating her like his best friend again, someone that believe wholeheartedly in everything that she does. He no longer acted like a jerk and spouted rude comments towards her, now they just came out in a joking manner knowing he never meant anything he said, and she got to see the boy she had fallen in love with two years ago. She was ready for them to finally be friends again.

After another thirty minutes, Ricky’s shift finishes heading over to the brunette that’s been waiting patiently at her favourite table. “Ready to go Princess?” he questions from behind her placing his hands on her shoulders, causing her to tilt her head back to look up at the curly-haired boy. She smiles brightly nodding taking a hold of her coffee cup and her purse as she follows him out the door.

As they made their way over to his car he was rambling on about one of his co-workers, Nini wasn’t really paying attention she was just watching how he couldn’t stop laughing as he recalled the story gesturing wildly with his car keys dangling from his hands. When he looks over at her, realizing that she hadn’t said a word since they left the shop and wasn’t laughing along with him, he asks if she’s okay.

“I forgive you.” Nini blurts out stopping in the middle of the parking lot, she didn’t mean for it to come out so bluntly, she planned on easing him into it but that plan completely slipped her mind.

Ricky freezes unsure of what to do, he moves to stand in front of the brunette looking into her eyes trying to gage where she was coming from and if she was sure. “Really?” Nini shrugs, “I mean, yeah, the past few weeks have been good. I’m starting to feel like we’re friends again. I-uh, that’s if you want to be friends again, like I don’t want to assume anything but-”

Ricky chuckles putting his hands gently on the brunette’s shoulders, running his thumbs along the fabric an attempt to calm the rambling girl, “Princess. Of course, I want us to be friends again. But, I don’t deserve to be forgiven.”

“Stop saying that,” she reprimands, “Yes, you do. You’ve proven to me that you are sorry for what happened. Ricky, please be my friend again.”

The tall boy nods, pulling the small girl into his chest hugging her tightly. He inhales, remembering what it was like to have her in his arms. He’s missed her. She reciprocates wrapping her arms around his torso pressing a smile into his shoulder.

As they pull away, Nini looks up at him with a sly smirk, “I’m still betting on getting valedictorian Bowen. Just because we’re friends again, doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy on you.” She laughs tilting her head up to smile quirkily at the boy.

“I wouldn’t want it any other way Princess.” He chuckles shaking his head at the girl in front of him, tapping the underside of her chin. “Come on, let’s get something to eat.”

After dinner, the pair decided on stopping by to get some ice cream before Ricky drops the brunette back at home. Nini insisted on paying since Ricky had paid for dinner, given her a free coffee and was refusing to accept any gas money she was offering. But, Nini was too slow and Ricky had paid for both of their cold treats before she had the chance.

She sat pouting at the small table in the parlor grumpily spooning some of the ice cream into her mouth. “This isn’t fair.” She says irritated by the boy sitting across from her.

“You snooze, you lose Princess.” He winks stealing a spoonful from her cup, “Mm, what did you get?” he asks licking his spoon. “Cotton Candy,” she smiles for a brief second, her lips forming back into a pout remembering she was upset with him, “Stop it. I’m still mad at you. Why don’t you ever let me pay?”

He chuckles leaning his elbow on the table sticking his spoon back in his cup. “If I agree to letting you pay next time will you stop pouting?” She nods her head excitedly with her spoon sticking out of her mouth.

“Okay, fine. Just stop with the lip thing you’re making me feel bad.” He says pointing at her lips and poking her cheek a few times to get her to smile.

As she takes her spoon out of her mouth, scooping up another spoonful, “Speaking of next time, I was thinking we could go to that diner we used to go to all the time.” She starts, offering the pink and purple treat to the boy. He opens his mouth graciously as she feeds him, “But, with our friends.” Ricky shoots her a questioning look waiting for her to continue.

“I’m sure you know that they’ve been getting together at Rosie’s without us, like ever since our fall out. And, it would be nice to reconnect with everyone again.” She says offhandedly scooping another spoon into her mouth.

The curly-haired boy nods in understanding, “No, of course. We can go for lunch tomorrow.” He suggests, picking up his spoon taking another bite from his cup.

“Okay, I’ll send a message to my group chat, and you send one to the guys?” She says as she takes her phone out of her pocket already drafting the text. After they sent their respective texts, she takes grabs her spoon stealing some of Ricky’s ice cream, cookies and cream his absolute favourite. He protests as he steals some from her cup as well. The pair couldn’t help but laugh at themselves.

Ricky drops off the brunette in front of her house later that evening. Before she could get out of the car, Ricky stops her taking a hold of her elbow, she turns shooting him a questioning look, “Thanks Nini, for giving me a chance.”

She smiles brightly, her heart swelling as she leans over the center console wrapping her arms around the boy’s neck tightly, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She says making her way out of his car, before closing the door, “Oh, can I get a ride tomorrow? Pretty, pretty please.” She smiles brightly at the driver, blinking her eyes at him repeatedly upping the dramatics.

“Of course, Princess.” With that, he watched her run up her porch, turning back around briefly to wave to him as she slid into her house. His day had definitely gone differently than he was expecting, but he couldn’t be happier.

* * *

Big Red, EJ and Carlos waltz into the all too familiar diner, when they enter they see Ashlyn and Seb in the waiting area. The trio looked at their friends confused as to what they were doing there, thinking it’s probably just a coincidence.

“Hey, what are you guys doing here?” EJ asks approaching the pair who still hadn’t taken note of their presence. As they turn around to see the three boys they looked at each other with wide eyes.

Ashlyn clears her throat overcoming her disbelief, “We’re having lunch with Nini today.” She informs them, hoping they consider grabbing lunch a little later or somewhere else as to avoid any awkward interactions. The boys looked at each other confused knowing that they were also meeting Ricky at the diner.

Before they could further question, they get interrupted by the diner’s door popping open revealing a laughing duo. The group turns to see their two friends who have been a little kinder to each other as of late. Nini looks up to see her friends, taking a hold of Ricky’s wrist she drags him over to the group exchanging hi’s and how are you’s.

As the hostess appears from around the corner, Nini informs the woman they’ll need a table for nine. The group follows the blonde woman into the diner, where a few of the workers were already pushing tables together.

Everyone took a seat still waiting on Gina and Kourtney to arrive. The group decided not to ask the pair about what was going on until the other two girls got there, so they chatted aimlessly about something that came up the other day.

When the two girls finally arrived, they approached the table cautiously, analyzing the big group not expecting their numbers to have doubled. Gina takes a seat next to her boyfriend shooting him a questioning look. He shakes his head frowning letting her know that they weren’t quite sure about what was going on.

No one had mentioned anything until after the waitress had come around to take their order. Carlos not able to help himself he leans forward eyeing the pair that was sitting in front of him, “What’s going on?” he questions bluntly. Seb hits his knee underneath the table warning him to choose his words wisely.

Ricky chuckles glancing at the brunette next to him, “Nothing. We decided that it was about time that we all hung out again. Graduation’s coming soon and seeing you guys all together is something we’ve been wanting for a while.”

“So” Kourtney drags out, “Are you guys friends again?”

As she asked her question, all heads around the table turned in their direction intrigued and hopeful of their answer, despite the bluntness of their friend’s inquiry. The pair in question couldn’t help but laugh at everyone’s reaction to which they nodded, mumbling a soft yeah smiling at one another.

The group erupted in cheers, ecstatic that the rivalry between the pair was finally over and things can go back to the way they used to be before their fallout, even if there was only so much time left until they graduate. Thinking that they’ll be able to all sit together at lunch and go out together as a group again, not having to keep their two friends out of the loop of things.

Everyone was chatting casually, simply catching up on each other’s lives and what’s to come for them after high school. Simply excited that they were finally able to sit together with all of their friends once again, without having Ricky and Nini making grabs at each other’s throats. Their friends still wondered what had happened that night between the pair, and they also wondered if they were ever going to find out. Even if they didn’t, they were okay with it as long as Ricky and Nini had finally worked their issues out.

* * *

“Ricky,” Mike calls from the kitchen when he hears the front door open. He walks over to see his son kicking his shoes off and storing his skateboard in the closet where it normally resides.

Ricky looks up at his dad taking his earphones out of his ears. His face a little flushed having skated home after school since EJ couldn’t drop him off because of a date he had with Gina. He nods to him in acknowledgment, “What’s up?” he asks a little out of breath setting his bag down on the floor.

Mike sighs, “Your mom’s been calling,” he says watching as his face flashes with a wave of anger. He knew that the relationship between his ex-wife and his son have been on edge the last couple of months, ever since college applications and admissions started coming into the picture.

“I know, I’ve been ignoring them.” He says shortly moving around his dad making his way into the kitchen, clearly not wanting to have this conversation.

“Rick,” Mike says following him, “You need to tell her your decision. Have you made a decision?” he asks curiously, realizing he didn’t actually know of his final choice, only aware of which ones he was thinking about. He didn’t want to push and pressure him into making his decisions, that was always Lynne’s specialty.

Ricky sighs taking a sip from the glass of water he had poured for himself. “I’m going to Harvard.” He says not daring to look up at the older man, as he continues, “I accepted it last week. Sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Mike’s face softens as he watches his son fiddling with the glass sitting on the kitchen island. He couldn’t believe his son was going off to college in a few short months, and at an Ivy League no less. He would’ve been just as proud if he went to a state school, never really caring for the big named institutions believing that you can still be successful no matter what school you attend. He tells Ricky a lot that; success isn’t defined by society but finding yourself happy and proud in what you have done.

“I’m proud of you Ricky. Always. Don’t forget that.” He says placing an arm around his son’s shoulder, pulling him into his chest. He can physically feel him start to relax at his touch. Pulling back to look into his eyes, “I hate to tell you this, but you do have to tell your mother.” Ricky couldn’t help but groan but agrees reluctantly, knowing that it was what he had to do. She deserved to know just as much as he did.

The younger boy excusing himself to finally call his mom back after three weeks of no communication. He takes a seat on his bed, pulling up the contact list his thumb hovering over her contact thinking about what he was going to say. When he finally presses it, she picks up on the first ring, “Richard Bowen, I-”

“Harvard. That’s my choice.” He says sharply, cutting her off for whatever she was about to say.

He can hear her sigh and Ricky instantly knew that she wasn’t happy with his choice. Deciding to not let her speak he begins to stand up for himself, “I don’t care if you like it, but I’m going. I’ve already accepted it so there’s no going back.”

“But, Ricky. What about Princeton? They had the most perfect p-”

“Mom.” He says strictly, “I’m going to Harvard. You should be happy that I’m going to an Ivy League at all. This might’ve been your dream, but I chose a school that was the best suited for me. I gave up a lot do this for you, I lost friends because you thought they were distractions, I’ve worked so hard in school and all those extra clubs and activities you had me do. So, just once I’d like it if you were just happy and proud of me.” Ricky could feel the weight lifting off his chest as he spoke every word. He never thought he’d be able to say that to her, finally letting all his feelings and stresses out into the open.

“I am proud of you Ricky. I just thi-”

“Thanks Mom, I’ll talk to you later.” He interrupts before she counteracts her statement, he didn’t need to hear from her that Harvard wasn’t the right choice. Ricky had never felt surer about college in his life.

* * *

Ricky leans over peering over Nini’s shoulder an attempt to get a glimpse of her test they had just gotten back. The brunette could feel him breathing down her neck so she presses her test into her chest so he couldn’t read the mark.

“Princess, come on. Just let me see it.” He begs.

She shakes her head, “Not happening, Ricky.” She laughs as she hears him plop back down in his seat. She turns to see him glaring at her, she couldn’t help herself but teasingly blow a kiss to him.

“I take it you guys are still competing for valedictorian?” Ashlyn asks from her spot next to Nini as she slides her own test into her folder, snickering along with Big Red at their friend’s pestering,

The pair nod in response, “It’s not a competition when we know I’m top of the class.” Nini says dramatically flipping her hair over her shoulder, playing the part. She hears Ricky rustle over leaning closer to their friends, “Hey, I’m still in this Princess. Can’t beat me that easily.” He whispers, trying not to bring everyone’s attention to their conversation.

“Hmm…sure,” she says in mock disbelief.

She turns back around to see Ricky sitting in his seat properly again, “Hey, so next week is our performance for the spring musical and I was kind of wondering if you want to come and watch?” She asks nervously, her fingers fiddling with the ends of her hair.

Ricky taps the underside of her chin bringing her eyes to lock with his, “Of course I’ll come. I couldn’t miss seeing my best friend in action.” He smiles widely at the brunette, as he sees her eyes shine bright with excitement.

“I thought I was your best friend,” Big Red grumbles from beside him. The two girls couldn’t help but giggle at their friend’s comment. Ricky shoves his shoulder jokingly, “Most of the time you are.”

Big Red looks over at his girlfriend, “What is that supposed to mean?” Ashlyn puts a hand on top of his, “It’s okay sweetie, you’re my favourite.” The group couldn’t help but laugh at the conversation that had just happened.

“Anyways, I know you hate musicals, so it means a lot Ricky.” She exclaims, bringing her attention back to her curly-headed friend.

He shrugs, “I hate them less when you’re in them.” He responds simply, sending her a small wink.

Nini scrunches her nose at his poor flirting attempt, “Shut up.”

* * *

Some afternoons when Ricky wasn’t working he would hang around the bookstore Nini worked at. He would settle in a comfortable spot near the back of the store reading a book or catching up on some school work while waiting for her to finish work. Ricky’s always loved bookstores, none of those commercialized and big branches, but the smaller, quaint and quirky kinds. He always felt like they had more of a personality especially since they have rare and original copies of some of the old-time classics.

He watches as Nini walks over realizing she had just finished her shift. She mumbles a small hey as she takes a seat across from him scrolling through her phone, catching up on her social media. Ricky glances back down to his laptop where he had written a short paragraph for his paper for Anderson’s class when he starts to wonder what Nini would write.

“Have you started Anderson’s paper yet?” he questions, nudging her foot lightly with his own gaining her attention.

The brunette shakes her head, “I was thinking of starting it this weekend. I’ve been so busy with rehearsals; some things have just been slipping my mind lately.” She shrugs as she stifles a yawn, Ricky can see her energy starting to deplete her eyes fighting to stay open.

He watches as she leans on the table, crossing her arms as a makeshift pillow resting her head in them, closing her eyes. Ricky smiles softly at the tired girl in front of him, he rests a hand on her head, petting her hair gently, “Princess, do you want to go home and take a nap? Cause we can if you want.” He offers.

Nini nods her head, eyes still closed. They stayed like that for a few more minutes, him stroking her hair, running his thumb back and forth in soothing motions. Nini takes in a deep breath, eyes finally opening locking with Ricky’s instantly. He whispers a small “Let’s go.” As he starts to throw his things into her bag. Ricky wraps a protective arm around the brunette’s shoulder guiding her towards his car.

As Ricky pulls up in front of her house, he puts the car into park. He watches as she unbuckles her seatbelt, moving to open the car door. She glances over her shoulder confused, “Are you not coming?” she asks.

The curly-haired boy was taken aback for a moment, he didn’t think that she would want him over when she was planning on taking a nap. “I don’t want to bother you.” He admits.

She giggles, “Don’t be ridiculous. Come on.” Ricky sighs, turning the car off and grabbing his bag from the backseat, following the brunette into her house.

Nini went up to her room to change into comfier clothes as Ricky sat on the all too familiar couch. Opting on reading a book instead of doing some homework while she napped, thinking it would be probably just be easier to do their homework together later. His attention diverts to the stairs when he hears her footsteps descending from the staircase.

Dressed in a pair of leggings and a red hoodie that was a size too big for her, she makes her way onto the couch nestling in next to the boy. She leans her head on his shoulder with her legs tucked into her chest. Ricky chuckles putting a hand on her knee his thumb running along the bone, “Take a nap Princess.”

She hooks her arm around his as she lets out a breath, her eyes falling closed. Ricky thought she was just going to fall asleep like that but was proven wrong when a question falls from her mouth. “Have you decided?” She asks quietly, her eyes still closed.

Ricky looks down at the small brunette, instantly knowing what she had meant by her vague question. He wondered why she had been thinking about it, even though the only people has told were his parents he knew he wanted her to be the first of his friends to tell. “I did.” He answers, watching as she slowly turns her head to look at him expectantly sending him a questioning look waiting for his answer.

“Let’s just say, you’ll be seeing more of me.” He smirks.

Nini couldn’t help but smile growing so wide it reached her eyes, pressing a kiss to his shoulder moving her head back to rest comfortably against him finally ready to take her nap, “Good.”

* * *

Gina and Nini made themselves comfortable taking a seat at Ashlyn’s kitchen island as she waltzed around the kitchen making them dinner. They had spent all day running through their dress rehearsal for _The Sound of Music,_ opening night being just around the corner. The three girls were exhausted from the non-stop rehearsals and costume fittings, they were incredibly excited to perform in their last musical together, but they knew after the minute the curtain closes they will be a ball of emotions and just start crying.

Taking the pot of the stove, Ashlyn pours the cooked pasta noodles into a strainer as she ready’s the sauce. “Ashlyn,” Nini calls from her spot at the island, “are you ready to kill it as Maria on Friday?”

The red-head smiles blushing at the compliment bringing her attention back to the pasta sauce stirring it a few times before turning the heat off. “Ready? Yeah, right, but I’m so excited. I just can’t believe it’s all coming to an end.” She says.

Nini getting up from her seat to grab drinks for all of them, setting them down on the counter as she looks at her friends adoringly. Nini couldn’t help but let her emotions start to take over her, she couldn’t believe how fast high school had passed. In less than 6 months, she’s going to be on the East Coast living her dream. While her two friends were making their way to California, Nini was going to miss them, but knew they were all going to do such great things.

After taking a few plates out for the pasta, Gina makes her way over to the brunette noticing how she fell silent. “Nins, it’s going to be okay,” she says wrapping an arm around the smaller girl whose eyes were focused on the ends of her hair.

“I know, it’s just you guys will be in California, and I won’t see you guys for months at a time. The closest thing I’ll have in semblance to home is Ricky, and like, that’ll be fine but I know there’ll be days where I just want to pack up everything and fly home.” She admits.

Ashlyn sets the plate of pasta down, hugging her two friends, deciding not to comment on the Ricky front just yet. “Nini, we’re only going to be one phone call away. Live your dream, you’ll make a ton of new friends,” She tells her.

“Plus, we know Ricky will take care of you, especially on days you’ll need a piece of home the most.” Gina adds.

The brunette nods, hugging her friends closer to her, “You’ll come visit me sometime, right?” she asks, as her eyes start to water thinking about what the future is going to hold for them. The three girls laugh, “Yeah, of course we will. We got to make sure you and Ricky don’t kill each other over in Massachusetts.” Ashlyn jokes.

Nini couldn’t help but chuckle, “I love you.”

“We love you too Neener.” Gina says.

* * *

The entire crowd raised to their seats applauding the entire cast as they take their final bows. Ricky couldn’t keep his eyes off the small brunette, he was so incredibly proud of her. He can see her eyes beaming, her smile never faltering. He can tell how happy she was, she belonged on the stage, she was just incredible.

Ricky was waiting in the main lobby with EJ, Big Red and Kourtney, waiting for the rest of their friends to emerge from the dressing rooms. He was holding a bouquet of red and white flowers, they were her favourite colours and coincidentally enough, also the colours for their school.

The group was mindlessly chatting about the musical, gushing about their friends’ performance. From Ashlyn’s singing to Carlos’s choreography, it was an exceptional show he had to admit despite not being a fan of them.

Suddenly, their friends were making their way towards them gushing about the show excitedly, still on a performance high. The group applauded and cheered for their friends, excitedly telling them how much they loved the show and how fantastic they all sounded.

Ricky smiled once he finally made eye contact with Nini, gesturing for her to come closer to him a step or two away from the rest of their friends. He wraps his arms around her tightly as if they were in their own little world, “Princess, I’m so proud of you.” He says, pulling back a little, “You did amazing,” he says as he presses a daring kiss to her cheek, causing the brunette’s cheeks to flush bright red.

“Thank you, Ricky, I’m glad you could make it.” she replies smiling widely at the boy.

He laughs along with her smiling just as wide, “Oh! I almost forgot, these are for you.” He says shyly, handing her the bouquet.

Her eyes going wide, she noticed the flowers when she approached him but didn’t say anything, still a little surprised he had gotten her something for opening night, “You didn’t have too!” She says as she takes a hold of them.

“You deserve it Princess,” he says wrapping his arms around her once more hugging her tightly to his chest, breathing in her perfume. She always smelled like lavender, and it has grown to be his favourite scent. Their hug was cut short by their friends making a grab for them, pulling them out to the parking lot, deciding to go to Rosie’s to celebrate their performance.

As they talked over their food, Big Red, who was sitting across from Ricky, asks, “Rick, have you decided where you’re going? I know the last time we talked you ruled out Columbia.” All the conversations their friends had lately were about college and where everyone was going. Everyone knew Big Red, Seb and Carlos were staying in Utah, wanting to stay a little closer to home. And Kourtney was jetting off to Florida, while the Caswell’s and Gina were heading out West.

The red-head watches as Nini’s head turns in his direction confused, “You only told me you were thinking about Yale and Harvard.”

Ricky winces, “We’ll talk about it later.” He tells her, turning his attention back to the red-head, “I ended up choosing Harvard.” He informs him popping a fry into his mouth, “Pre-Law.”

“Dude, that’s great!” EJ says from next to him who was listening in on their conversation, along with the rest of their friends offering him congratulations. “You already told your mom, right? I know she’s been on your case about colleges and stuff.” He adds on, not realizing how Ricky’s face darkens recalling his last conversation with his mom where she didn’t sound too happy with his final decision.

“Yeah,” he says shortly, “And you, you’re going to fucking Berkeley man, who knew you had some brains up there,” he jokes knocking on the dark-haired boy’s head, trying to forget about his mom wanting to live in the moment rather than dwell on how his mom was never proud of what he’s accomplished.

Gina snorts, hearing the curly-headed boy’s comment as EJ protests. “I have a 4.0 GPA, sorry we can’t all be Harvard-bound students,” EJ teases, sticking his tongue out at the pair.

Ricky hadn’t noticed, but Nini had fell silent since they mentioned Columbia. She was silently watching the group talk over each other, her brain focusing on what Big Red and EJ had said about Columbia then his mom. She never knew that Lynne was always on him about college, she lives in Chicago so she hadn’t really thought all that much that the woman had much of an opinion.

The brunette’s attention got brought back when Kourtney asks, “Who’s currently ahead for valedictorian, right now?”

Ricky chuckles, the pair had agreed not to show each other’s marks calculating who’s was higher. Letting whatever happens, happen. He tells the group just that, speaking on behalf of the pair, as Nini just smiles and nods her head along to his explanation.

“Okay, but out of curiosity,” Carlos starts, “What happens when the other gets it? Like, do you have a bet or something? Like if Nini wins, you have to I don’t know, do something embarrassing.”

The pair look at each other not really having thought that much into it. Nini looks at him curiously, she can see wheels moving inside his brain, she was about to protest but he beat her saying, “If I win, you have to drive us all the way to Massachusetts when we move in.”

Nini’s jaw drops punching his shoulder a few times with her small fists, “Are you crazy? No deal! That’s over 30 hours!” The brunette’s protests causing the group to burst out laughing at Ricky’s suggestion. He has to be crazy to have Nini drive the entire way over, even if they did make pit stops.

“Fine, fine. If I win, you go to prom with me.” He says shooting her a daring look.

Everyone was watching the groups interaction closely, the turn of events peaking their interest incredibly. If Nini was being honest, she completely forgot about prom. Her mind has been so focused on school and the musical it just happened to slip her mind, she didn’t even have a dress to wear.

But when she locks eyes with the curly-haired boy who was daring her to say no, she surprises herself when she says, “And if I win?” Quirking an eyebrow in his direction, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Well, what do you want princess?” he smirks at the girl next to him.

She wasn’t sure what she wanted, but then an idea popped in her mind thinking back to what Carlos had said about doing something embarrassing, “If I win, I want you to do the most grandest promposal. And depending if I like it or not, we’ll see if we go together.”

By the look in his eye, Nini knew his answer before he said it. “Deal.” He says sticking his hand out to her, she takes ahold of it firmly in her hand sealing the deal.

Their friends looked on curiously, excited to see what was to come from this bet. Carlos looks at his friends knowingly, a little proud that he got the ball rolling.

* * *

“How’d your paper turn out?” Ricky asks, taking a seat next to Nini in their English class. It was the day they were all submitting their final papers about what they’ve learned about their partners and their lifestyle and what that means to them.

Nini smiles widely at the boy, “Good. Probably better than yours,” she says sticking her tongue out at him. What she didn’t notice was Ricky’s finger coming up to tap the tip of her tongue, when she felt something touch it she immediately sticks her tongue back in her mouth. Bringing her sleeve to wipe at it, “Gross, why would you do that?” she asks, as she continues to wipe away the reminder that his finger had touched her.

He chuckles, wiping his finger against her jeans, “Just wanted to bother you,” he smiles teasingly at her. She was about to retort but the bell signaling the beginning of class interrupted her. She mouths over to the boy as their teacher starts to talk, ‘This isn’t over.’ Only causing him to wink at her.

* * *

Another week had gone by, everything was passing by faster than either of them wanted it to. The pair knew the following Friday was going to reveal the winner of the bet, both a little nervous to see the final outcome – what they’ve been working towards the last two years.

Nini and Ricky were sitting on her roof, looking down below as cars zoomed by. Nini’s been waiting for the right time to ask Ricky about what happened at the diner last week, her mind not able to drift from the conversation. But there was a more pressing question that has been bothering her since they started becoming friends again.

Not daring to look at the boy next to her, she keeps her eyes trained on the house in front of hers as she asks, “Why did you never try to apologize?” Hoping that he didn’t yell, avoid or run like he has done in the past, that maybe, just maybe, he was finally ready to open up about everything.

His head turns slowly noting her face hadn’t faltered, she kept a straight and focused face. He sighs running a hand through his hair, “Because you hated me. What was the point?” he shrugs, admitting why he never tried to reconcile with the brunette.

She turns, locking eyes with the boy, “No, Ricky. I hated what you did, but I never hated you.” She says confidently, watching carefully as his eyes widen in shock and a little bit of sadness.

“Nini, I-”

“Can you be honest with me Ricky?” She interrupts not needing him to apologize for what happened again. She wanted the truth, it was bugging her. Over the last few weeks she had told herself that forgiving him was worth it, even without the truth about the situation. But it seemed to be pecking at the back of her brain, the question waiting to be asked.

The boy nods, instantly knowing what she had meant. He takes a slow and shaky breath, averting his gaze back to the dark sky not able to look at her knowing that if he did he might chicken out, “All my life, my mom had always dreamed for me to get into an Ivy. I was put in extra tutoring classes, in all these competitive clubs and teams ever since I can remember. And once I got to high school, I knew it was going to get worse. And I just,” He sighs, pausing for a moment collecting his thoughts once more. “When you said your dream was to go to Harvard, I was just shocked, I guess. You’ve never told me about wanting to go, and it just seemed like something that only lived in your dreams. And, I just, I was jealous, I guess, I-I don’t know. For me it’s always been a plan, the inevitable, I’m not saying that I don’t want it. I do. I think I just want it for different reasons than most people. I just wanted my mom to finally be proud of me.”

The last line he said struck a chord within Nini. She never realized how important the Ivy League was to him, she had always assumed since he had such a high GPA and was involved in so many different things at school and within the community he was just trying to build a better rapport for his applications. She never even thought that his home life was the biggest reason that he wanted – needed, to get into the Ivy’s.

Gingerly she places a hand around him resting her head on his shoulder. She felt like she needed to apologize, but what for? She couldn’t have known any of that, and it wasn’t like it was her fault that’s what he had to go through. Instead of an apology she squeezes his body in comfort waiting for him to continue.

After a few more moments in silence, Ricky closes his eyes screwing them shut, “I’m sorry, Nini.” He whispers, willing himself to control the tears beginning to build up in his eyes, his voice starting to shake, “I made you feel like shit for so long, because I was trying to protect myself. You were like an escape from everything that was happening at home. Nini, letting you go was always my biggest regret.”

Nini shakes her head, taking a hold of the boy’s face in her hands turning his head so they connected eyes again, “Ricky, I’ve forgiven you. It may have sucked, because I lost my best friend, but now you’re a big reason I’m going to fucking Harvard. So really, I should be thanking you.”

“Nins,” he tries to speak.

Before he could utter anything else, she pulls him into a tight hug, “Stop, I know what you’re doing. I don’t care about that anymore, I want you to know that no matter what, I’m proud of you, you’re my best friend and we’re going to rule Massachusetts.”

Ricky couldn’t help but chuckle as he winds his arms around the brunette’s waist, pulling her closer into his body relaxing into the familiar touch. He exhales, instantly feeling better after releasing everything that’s been building up in his chest. Finally, being honest with her, letting out everything he’s been holding in since he left her house two years ago.

“Thank you, Princess. For everything.”

* * *

“Hey, I need help with something.” Ricky says over the phone.

EJ chuckles, “What? No, hi EJ how are you this fine afternoon? How was school today?” He begins to joke rambling on about Ricky’s lack of greeting.

“I’m serious, I want to do something at the awards ceremony next week.” Ricky states nervously, tapping his pen against his notebook.

“And, that would be?” EJ asks curiously.

“Actually, meet me at that antique store on 600 in 20 minutes. I’ll fill you in there.” He says shortly, hanging up racing to his closet to get ready. His nerves were already spiking even though he knew exactly what he wanted to do.

* * *

The day before the senior awards ceremony where they would announce the senior superlatives and the valedictorian, the group had met up at Rosie’s without Ricky and Nini. It wasn’t on purpose, it just so happened that they had to go to work that afternoon.

They were excitedly chatting about the who would get what superlative, and what suited them the most. When EJ had an idea, eyes brightening waving his arms excessively in excitement, “Who wants to bet Ricky’s going to win tomorrow?”

The group looked at him telling him to calm down and stop waving around like he lost control of his long limbs. However, Carlos’s curiosity peaked at his friend’s question, “You think Ricky’s going to win? My money’s on Nini.”

“Oh,” Big Red says intrigued, eying his friends, “Should we have a pot going?” He suggests.

A few of their friends agreeing to the idea. To everyone’s surprise, Ashlyn speaks up, “20 bucks it’s Ricky,” she says coolly, as she takes a sip of her milkshake. Seb’s head snaps in her direction, usually she’s the person along with him that try their best to shut down their ideas regarding the pair.

Ashlyn’s raises her eyebrows in question at the look the blonde was sending him, “What?” she shrugs, “Nothing wrong with a friendly bet. Plus, it’s not like we’re meddling in their relationship.”

“Now, that’s what I like to hear!” Carlos says excitedly placing a twenty on the table. Kourtney, Gina, Big Red and Carlos placed a twenty in favour for Nini, setting it down in the space between Carlos and EJ. As Ashlyn and EJ place a twenty down for Ricky, everyone’s eyes travel to their blonde friend who was sitting quietly contemplating on whether he should participate.

He looks around at all his friends huffing, he couldn’t believe what he was about to do, “Put me in for Ricky.” He says taking his wallet out of his pocket to pull out a twenty.

“Let the best valedictorian, win.” Gina says to the group who put on Ricky, smiling mischievously at the group. She had complete trust and faith in Nini, and just knew that she was going to get it. The last they had checked, Nini was top of the class and has been maintaining her grades in the last few weeks.

Only tomorrow will tell.

* * *

Ricky and Nini were sitting in the front row of seats inside the gym where the assembly was being held, holding each other’s hands anxiously. No matter what the outcome was going to be that day, they knew they would be incredibly happy for whoever gets the top spot.

The valedictorian was going to be named last, which made it an extra long wait for the anxious pair. Ricky was rubbing his thumb against her hand, in a split-second decision, he wraps his arm around her, not letting go of her hand so her arm follows his motion. He presses a small kiss to the side of her head whispering “I’m proud of you.”

She smiles shyly, “And, I’m proud of you.” She says squeezing his hand again.

As Principal Gutierrez approaches the mic one last time, “Seniors, I’m pleased to announce that the Class of 2020’s Valedictorian will be,” he pauses looking around the auditorium. Nini and Ricky’s hands tightening around each other’s, Ricky hugging her tightly into his side as a few of their friends place a hand on each of their shoulders.

It felt like eternity until the older man announces, “Mr. Richard Bowen.”

The group hops up in their seats, Nini pulling him in for a tight hug. Ricky still in shock, he squeezes her body into his once more before moving towards the podium where the principal was waiting to shake his hand. Ricky shakes the older man’s hand, as he leans closer to the principal asking if he can say a few words. He complies standing aside to give the curly-haired boy the stage.

“Wow, uh, hi everyone. I know usually people wait until graduation to give the big speech, but I actually had a very important question to ask a very important lady.” He smiles, looking at the small brunette that was sitting back in her seat with a few of their friends surrounding her. He notices her looking at him embarrassed, her cheeks flushing bright red as she bites her lip, a nervous habit she’s picked up over the years.

In his peripheral, he sees EJ holding the red and white bouquet of flowers that he had bought for her earlier that morning. Ricky walks over to the taller boy, taking a hold of the bouquet making his way to the brunette who was watching him carefully.

“My Harvard girl, my Princess, would you please do me the honour and go to prom with me?” he smiles. It wasn’t the grandest of promposals, but he thought it fit her well, a simple question which had a simple answer.

She giggles standing up to her full height, looking up at the boy in front of her, “Of course stupid.” She says, hugging him tightly. The cheers could be heard around the gymnasium, a few whistles and calls, cheering the pair on.

Ricky’s smile was so wide that it was beginning to hurt but he couldn’t help himself but smile at the girl in his arms. He presses a kiss against her forehead, as he pulls back handing her the flowers.

Later that day, Ricky was driving the brunette home. Their bags stashed in the back along with the flowers he had bought for her. Nini takes a hold of his hand, that was resting in the against the arm rest in between them. The action causing the boy to look over to her briefly before returning his eyes to the road as he laces her fingers with his, a small smile dancing on his lips.

“You didn’t have to do that.” She tells him, “You won the bet.”

Ricky shakes his head laughing, “It wasn’t that grand, plus every princess deserves to be properly asked to prom, even if she already agreed.” He smiles, squeezing her hand in his.

“Thank you, Ricky.” She replies, pulling his hand a little so it rests in her lap comfortably, the rest of the drive was filled with idle chatter, the pair just embracing the other’s company, completely forgetting that their hands were intertwined. The embrace was so natural, that it felt like home.

* * *

Nini was sitting on Ricky’s bed sorting out through some of his papers, trying to help him organize everything into a better system. Or what she believes to be a better system. She was wearing one of his hoodies, forgetting to bring one for herself since his room has always been like an icebox ever since she could remember.

Ricky had slipped out of the room just moments ago, after he heard his dad walk through the front door letting her know he’ll be right back and just needed to talk to his dad about something. As Nini was putting a sticky note in between one of the pages, she touched the bed for the pen she was using but couldn’t feel it. Confused, she patted all over the sheets and the papers in search of the pen, to which she had no success.

The brunette huffs as she makes her way over to his desk grabbing another pen out of the cup holder. She couldn’t help but look at some of the photos that were set on his desk and decorated along his wall. There were a few photos of his dad, maybe one or two of his mom, but the rest were photos of him and their friends. One photo catches her eye in particular, it was a photo of the two of them. It was the day she had performed her last musical, a bouquet of followers tucked neatly in her arms as Ricky brings his head closer to hers smiling brightly at the camera. They looked so happy, Nini couldn’t help but think about the boy that was just downstairs. The last few months have been nothing but great. He’s showed her time and time again how much she means to him, whether it be through his words or something he did. He always tried his best to put a smile on her face.

Nini giggles as her fingers danced along the desk, her eyes spotting a wooden box. She picks it up carefully curiosity getting the best of her, scared that when she tries to open it something was going to break. She didn’t think it was that big of a deal, they rifle through each other’s things from time to time when they are looking for something. But Nini instantly knew that this wasn’t just an ordinary box when she opened it.

The little wooden box revealed a beautifully polished antique key, the brunette looks at it carefully wondering why it would be in a box like this. Normally at thrift stores they are all a little rusty and dirty giving it the vintage vibe, but this one looked like it had been taken to get cleaned and it had silver chain attached to it. Nini thought it looked incredible, she couldn’t help but run her finger over the little dips and details.

The small brunette was so enraptured by the key she didn’t hear the door open. When Ricky entered back into his room, he was expecting Nini to still be rifling through papers. What he didn’t expect was for Nini to find the gift he had bought for her last week. His breath hitches, realizing she had found it earlier than he wanted to, still not sure if he was ready to admit to her what the key meant.

He starts to approach the petite girl, gently putting a hand over the box taking it into his hands. Nini looks up at him with wide eyes, her mouth gaping trying to formulate some sort of apology for snooping, “Ricky, I-I was j-just, I-”

Ricky smirks, he knew in that instant when their eyes met that he was ready to give her the necklace, albeit earlier than expected but he knew he was ready. He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear gently, willing her to stop her from running herself over with her own words. “Princess,” he says quietly, as he pulls her over to the foot of his bed trying not to mess up the neat piles that Nini had been carefully laying out all afternoon.

He takes the key out of the box, “You told me that keys can lead you to a different world, and that so far none of them has. For a long time Nini I’ve admired you. Somehow you always managed to light the room with your smile, and make me laugh, you’ve accomplished great things and I can’t wait to see what Harvard has for us.” He takes a hold of Nini’s hand, who has gone silent since he started talking. He looks into her eyes preparing himself for what he was going to say next, he knew it was cheesy, but he thinks she’ll love it.

“This key,” he continues putting the mentioned object between them, “is the key to my heart.”

He watches her carefully as she registers what he had just said, Nini’s eyes soften not able to keep her smile at bay. She carefully takes the key into her hand, her eyes never leaving his. She thumbs at the key nervously, “What does this mean? For us?” she asks barely above a whisper.

Ricky smiles widely at the brunette in front of him, “Would it be too soon to ask for you to be my girlfriend?”

Nini pretends to contemplate the idea, causing the pair to burst out laughing breaking the serious tone they had taken the last few minutes. She leans in her lips ghosting over his, she gazes into his eyes, “Yes, my Harvard boy, I’ll be your girlfriend.” That’s all it took for Ricky to close the distance between them, bringing a hand up to the back of her head his fingers threading through her hair.

As they pull away, the pair smiling widely at one another. Nini hands him the key gesturing for him to put it on her. After locking the necklace in place, the brunette couldn’t help but look down and smile, laughing at everything that had just happened.

“I never pegged you for being cheesy, didn’t think you had it in you.” She smirks up at the boy that was watching her intently.

His jaw drops, pulling her down onto the bed, lying down on the piles of papers she spent the past hour organizing, “Take that back!” Ricky cries out jokingly.

“Ricky! My hard work, you’re going to crinkle everything let go!” She exclaims squirming, ignoring the boy’s protest. In replacement of a response, Ricky presses a kiss to her lips once more, “You make me happy.” He says against her lips.

Nini couldn’t help but smile, the pairs teeth clashing together. She presses her lips against his a few more time, “You make me happy too.”

* * *

The day of prom was going to be Ricky and Nini’s first official date. To say they were nervous would be an understatement. Nini was getting ready with the girls and she kept frantically fixing her hair, checking her teeth to see if she had lipstick, smoothing her dress down trying to stop any wrinkles from forming.

Kourtney noticing her friend’s anxiousness, she walks over to her placing a hand on her arm trying to stop her from moving. “Nini, he’s your boyfriend. Don’t be nervous.” She says trying to calm the frantic girl down.

The brunette looks up at her friend, trying to regulate her breathing, “It’s just, it’s our first date. And, I just, I don’t want him to see me and-”

“Stop right there!” Gina calls from her spot at Nini’s vanity. She was looking at the brunette through the mirror, as she gets up turning to her, “This isn’t your first date. You guys have gone on so many dates. I am willing to bet that he’s going to stop breathing that it’s concerning the moment he sees you.” She takes a hold of Nini’s hand as Kourtney is running comforting circles into her shoulder.

Ashlyn makes her way over, “Gina we all know placing bets isn’t your strong suit,” causing the girls to giggle at the mention of her losing the bet on who was going to be valedictorian. The red-head turns to Nini, “But we all know Gina’s right. He adores you Nini, I don’t think anything’s going to make him run from you, not again.” She says encouragingly. The brunette nods bringing all of them in for a group hug.

As the hour passes, the girls had made their way down to the kitchen snacking on cookies Nini had made the other night. Suddenly, there was a mix of male voices calling out their names in search of them. Kourtney yells out that they’re in the kitchen.

Immediately, Nini wipes at the corners of her mouth taking away any crumbs that were there and smoothing her dress skirt down. She turns to see the boys standing in the archway, Ricky with a box holding her corsage, he was frozen in his spot keeping the rest of the boys from getting into the kitchen.

She hears Gina whisper to Ashlyn from behind her, “I win.” Causing Nini to giggle as she approaches the curly-haired boy.

Nini stops a few steps away from him, watching him carefully starting to feel a little nervous she bites her lip for a moment waiting for him to move. She sees Big Red’s hand fly up hitting Ricky on the back, bringing him out of his trance.

Making his way over to the brunette, he smiles widely, “You look beautiful Princess,” he says before leaning down to press a kiss to her lips. He hums against her mouth, “You taste good.” The comment causing her to push the boy back hitting him in his chest.

“You guys are disgusting, it’s cute but sometimes it’s just plain gross.” Carlos pipes up as he takes a bite of his cookie.

Nini cringes as she looks over her shoulder to shoot a glare at their watching friends. Ricky takes her hand in his, bringing her attention back to him as he starts to slip the corsage on her wrist. It matched her dress, a red rose with a few baby’s breath decorating along the side. She smiles down at it, “It’s beautiful.”

“It better be, he took an hour trying to figure out which one to choose.” EJ says, jokingly.

Ricky sighs slightly irritated at their friends, “You guys really know how to ruin a moment.”

Nini smiles, bringing her arms around his neck, “I think they make it perfect,” she smiles, kissing his lips once more. The group bursting out into laughter, as they started making their way out the door excited for their last night going out together. It was bittersweet, but they all knew they still had a week until graduation, the rest of the summer, and were already making plans on seeing each other again during Thanksgiving break.

They just couldn’t believe high school was finally coming to an end.

* * *

Ricky was nervously tapping his cue cards against his palm. Even though Ricky has rehearsed this speech more times than he could count it didn’t make it any less nerve wracking. As the motions of the ceremony went on, Ricky could feel his heart racing as each speech from a board member finished. Next thing he knew, he was being called up to the stage.

Trying his best to calm down, controlling his breathing as he continues to tap his cards against his hands as he made his way over to the podium. Ricky looks out to the crowd his eyes searching, he spots Nini who was smiling widely at him, the smile encouraging him that he’ll do great. He scans the sea of red gowns and caps and smiles every so often when he locks eyes with one of his friends. Finally, his eyes land on his parents sitting next to each other both smiling widely. His mom sending him a thumbs up, mouthing ‘I’m proud of you.’ And she looked genuinely happy and proud. That was the moment Ricky knew he finally did it, he accomplished what he’s been aiming for his entire lifetime – he made her proud.

“My fellow graduates. In these four years, we’ve learned a lot about who we are and who we want to be. Every single one of us here will make an impact, whether it be through one person or a thousand or even a million. I’m going to read a little excerpt from a paper that I had submitted about a month ago to embody what we should be shooting for.” He starts, clearing his throat locking eyes with the brunette that’s filled his heart in the last few months, sending her a small smile.

“From what I’ve learned about myself in writing this paper is that we all think we need to please someone, do something because it’s always been a part of some plan that’s been set out for you, whether by yourself, a family member, a friend. And the brunette that has helped me open my eyes, she showed me what it was like to dream, and to dream big. I aspire to stick to this mentality. My fellow students, wherever your life takes you next, I challenge you to follow your dreams. Because you might never know where it might take you. I would just like to thank all of the parents and friends out in the audience, as well as the faculty members, because without your utmost support, we might not be where we are today. Congratulations, class of 2020, we killed it.” He finishes, smirking at the crowd as applause filled the room. Ricky made his way back to his seat, looking over at his girlfriend sending her a wink, as they wait for the names to start being called out.

As each of his friends walk across the stage, Ricky couldn’t help but cheer and clap louder than he did for the rest of the student body. As Nini crosses the stage, being the last of their friends to walk, she shakes the hands of the principal and other board members, as they hand her the rolled piece of paper as a makeshift diploma. She looks over smiling to Ricky who was sitting in the front row, he winks blowing a kiss to her causing her to giggle on her way back to her seat.

At the end of the ceremony Ricky had went in search of his parents, finding them standing off to the side he approaches them hugging each of them tightly. “I’m proud of you buddy,” his dad says pressing a kiss to his curly hair. Ricky smiles rubbing a hand on the back of his neck, thanking his dad.

He turns to look at his mom anxiously, she puts a hand on his arm, “Ricky, I’m proud of you. I know I’ve been a little crazy about college, but I promise you I’ll take a step back. You’re your dream baby.” Ricky smiles brightly, can’t believing those words had just fell from his mom’s mouth. He’d never thought this moment would come. He pulls his mom in for another hug, “Thanks Mom,” He says.

“I love you.” She responds, pulling back patting him on his shoulder. Taking a step back rather quickly causing him to shoot her a confused look. But understood when he felt a body collide into his back and arms snaking around his waist.

He laughs, turning around in the girl’s arms hugging her tightly into his chest. “Hey baby. Congratulations.” He says pressing a kiss to her forehead. She scrunches her nose, “I prefer Princess, but I guess I can get used to baby.” She jokes, “Congratulations to you too, Mr. Valedictorian.”

The pair instantly swept up in each other, forgetting about everything going around them. Nini shoots him a big smile, so wide that it reaches her eyes, “So Harvard Boy, dreaming big, huh?” she kids.

The comment causing him to burst out into laughter, “Yeah, you’ve always liked having big dreams. It’s one of the reasons why I love you.” He says gazing down at his beautiful girlfriend. Her eyes widening at his declaration, being the first time he said those three words.

“I love you too.” She whispers leaning up to press a kiss to his lips.

“You ready to spend the next four years living your dream?” He asks as he takes a gentle hold of the key that was laying across her neck, smiling at the girl that holds the key to his heart.

“With you,” she says pressing a kiss to his lips, “I’m ready for anything.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for giving this read! so sorry it was so long but i'm really proud of this one probably my favourite that i've done so far. thank you for all the love and support you've all given me 
> 
> if you could give this a kudos and a comment, i'd really appreciate it :)
> 
> if you want to connect with me you can follow me on twitter @xxprincesskels OR tumblr @nini-ricky
> 
> thank you again xx


End file.
